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Meaning Of The Family-Cap Policy For Poor Women: Contraceptive And Fertility Decision-Making, Diana Romero, Hannah Fortune-Greely, Jorge Verea, Debbie Salas-Lopez
Meaning Of The Family-Cap Policy For Poor Women: Contraceptive And Fertility Decision-Making, Diana Romero, Hannah Fortune-Greely, Jorge Verea, Debbie Salas-Lopez
Debbie Salas-Lopez MD, MPH
In 1996 the US Congress enacted welfare reform legislation. In addition to new lifetime time limits and work requirements for those receiving cash and other forms of social assistance, the states could impose policies pertaining to reproductive-related behaviors of poor women. One such policy is the so-called “family-cap,” which denies additional income support to poor women who have a baby while receiving cash assistance; 24 states have implemented such policies. The ostensible goal of the policy is to limit fertility among current cash assistance recipients. This pilot study sought to explore whether poor women in a family-cap state (NJ) base …