Paper short abstract:

In this presentation, we take an intersectional approach to the study of long active reversible contraceptives (LARC), and explore how US LARC promotion policies and practices reflect and/or disrupt dominant discourse on unintended pregnancy and social inequalities.

Paper long abstract:

Long acting reversible contraceptives (LARC) have become the contraception de-jour of many legislators, health policy advocates, healthcare providers, and consumers in the contemporary United States. LARC is championed across the political spectrum as promising an affordable, reliable, and safe means by which to reduce rates of unplanned pregnancy and abortion, but some critics suggest that LARC promotion reconstitutes eugenicist policies that target society's most vulnerable populations. We take an intersectional approach to the study of LARC promotion, because such practices and policies are not just about social class or gender or race, but about the intersections of these and other social forces that have created complex inequalities, as well as institutional responses to these inequalities. In this presentation, we explore how LARC promotion policies and practices reflect and/or disrupt dominant discourse on unintended pregnancy and social inequalities. We situate historically and socially U.S. LARC promotion efforts through a genealogical analysis of relevant policies that will highlight the scientific and legal logics behind LARC promotion, as well as identify the unintended consequences of health policies designed to alleviate inequality. We consider the unspoken messages of LARC promotion, as well as the way these policy documents have travelled and been taken up by other agencies, social actors, and media. This policy analysis follows leading interdisciplinary feminist scholars who interrogate the complex nexus of reproduction, technoscience, health policy, and inequality by focusing on the complexities and contradictions inherent in all systematic attempts to reduce disparities and influence population change.