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Joanna Weiss

Contraception, the economic miracle drug

By Joanna Weiss

 |  Globe Columnist  

  March 11, 2012

For fiscal conservatives and deficit hawks, birth control turns out to be something of a miracle drug. It saves everyone money. Consider a meticulously-researched brief, released last Monday by the Brookings Institution, that studied family-planning programs covered by Medicaid, and came to an eye-opening conclusion. Every taxpayer dollar spent on family planning services - including teen pregnancy prevention programs, media campaigns against unprotected sex, and expanded access to birth control - would save between two and six dollars of taxpayer money.

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