Modern contraceptive practice in rural Appalachia

This paper examines contraceptive practice in a traditionally high fertility and economically disadvantaged rural county of central Appalachia. A key consideration is the extent to which the modernization of birth control observed nationally has diffused to and been adopted within this rural area. Data from the community study indicate that professional family planning services are, in fact, widely available and easily accessible to the vast majority of county residents. Interviews with a random sample of 407 currently married women of childbearing age, 15-45 years, revealed that 87 per cent of contraceptors were using either sterilization, the pill, or the IUD, with sterilization used by close to half of all couples practicing family planning. Moreover, this widespread use of modern contraceptives and sterilization was found among all educational and income groups.