Estimating Family Planning Program Effects on U.S. Fertility Rates

By linking 1968-1969 family planning enrollment statistics to 1970 Census county-level data, we test for program effects on the 1969-1970fertility ofsubgroups of women defined by age, race, marital status, two definitions of economic status, and, for whites, the racial composition of their area of residence. A multivariate model to control spurious program effects is developed for wives. The pattern of effects using multiple subgroup comparison provides a weight of evidence indicating significant reductions of marital fertility among low-SES wives served by the program, and no effects on groups not served.