Have the two-child limit to welfare policy and cuts to contraceptive services in Britain impacted abortion rates and household poverty?

英国的二孩福利政策限制和避孕服务削减是否影响了堕胎率和家庭贫困？

• 批准号: ES/W013177/1
• 负责人: REBECCA GEARY
• 金额: $ 30.44万
• 依托单位: University of Liverpool
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FW013177%2F1
• 关键词: two; child; limit; welfare; policy

Have the two-child limit to welfare policy and cuts to contraceptive services in Britain impacted abortion rates and household poverty?Aim of this projectTo find out how recent changes to the benefits system and contraception services have affected rates of abortion and household poverty. Why this is importantMany unplanned pregnancies end in abortion. There are more than 200,000 abortions each year in England and Wales, with higher rates among people living in poorer areas. The Government's austerity programme, which started in 2010, aimed to save the Government money by cutting money available through welfare benefits and reducing money local authorities receive to provide public services. In 2017, they introduced a policy where third or subsequent children are not entitled to the "child element" of support in the benefit system (called the two-child limit). This is worth £2,780 per child per year. Recent evidence suggests that this policy is pushing some people to end wanted pregnancies, to avoid being pushed (further) into poverty. Funding for contraceptive services has also been cut, potentially increasing unplanned pregnancies and abortions. There is an urgent need to look at whether these policies are driving increases in abortions, or if larger families are being pushed into poverty by continuing subsequent pregnancies, and if some groups of people (e.g. single parents, younger parents, ethnic minority women) have been more affected than others. This will help the Government to design better policies to support individuals and families. What we are planning to do1. We will review information published on changes to child-related welfare support policies and abortion services. We will hold workshops with members of the public to understand how current social welfare policies impact on pregnancy decision making. Through this we will produce detailed policy summaries (e.g., eligibility criteria) and a map of how these policies may have affected individuals and families.2. We will analyse national statistics and large-scale survey data to measure changes in abortion rates and poverty since the introduction of the two-child limit. We will compare abortion rates before and after the introduction of the two-child benefits cap, among women likely to be affected by the policy and those who are less likely to be affected.3. We will look at how abortion rates have changed since changes to funding of contraception services, by analysing national statistics and data on spending on and use of contraceptive services. We will look at whether some groups of women have been more affected by these changes. How we will involve members of the public and other stakeholdersWe will hold workshops with members of the public to develop our research plans, to review the policy changes and to generate recommendations for the Government, and we will invite people to become public advisors on this project. We will also hold separate workshops with other stakeholders including abortion healthcare providers, charity and advocacy organisations, MPs, researchers, and representatives from local government. How we will support people involved in this projectWe will offer training in understanding and communicating research evidence to support individuals with lived experience to contribute to national inquiries and debates about policies that affect women and children. How we will share our findingsWith the members of the public involved with this project, we will write one-page summaries of our results. We will submit these to parliamentary committees that oversee these policies and share them with abortion providers and anti-poverty advocates. We will produce and share infographics through trusted organisations on social media and put clear summaries on the University of Liverpool website and other online forums. We will publish our findings in research journals and make our data available for other researchers.

英国福利政策的两个孩子限制和避孕服务的削减是否影响了堕胎率和家庭贫困？该项目的目的是了解福利制度和避孕服务的最新变化如何影响堕胎率和家庭贫困。为什么这很重要许多计划外怀孕以堕胎告终。英格兰和威尔士每年有20多万例堕胎，生活在贫困地区的人堕胎率更高。政府的紧缩方案始于2010年，旨在通过削减福利津贴和减少地方当局用于提供公共服务的资金来节省政府资金。2017年，他们推出了一项政策，第三个或更多的孩子无权获得福利制度中的“儿童元素”（称为两个孩子限制）。每个孩子每年可获得2,780英镑。最近的证据表明，这一政策正在促使一些人终止想要的怀孕，以避免（进一步）陷入贫困。对避孕服务的供资也被削减，这可能会增加计划外怀孕和堕胎。迫切需要研究这些政策是否正在推动堕胎的增加，或者是否由于继续怀孕而使大家庭陷入贫困，以及某些群体（例如单亲父母、年轻父母、少数民族妇女）是否比其他群体受到更大的影响。这将有助于政府制定更好的政策来支持个人和家庭。我们计划做什么1.我们将审查公布的有关儿童福利支助政策和堕胎服务变化的信息。我们将与公众举行工作坊，以了解当前的社会福利政策对怀孕决策的影响。通过这一点，我们将产生详细的政策摘要（例如，资格标准）以及这些政策如何影响个人和家庭的地图。我们将分析国家统计数据和大规模调查数据，以衡量自实行两个孩子限制以来堕胎率和贫困状况的变化。我们将比较两孩福利上限出台前后，可能受政策影响的妇女和不太可能受影响的妇女的堕胎率。我们将通过分析关于避孕服务支出和使用情况的国家统计数字和数据，研究自避孕服务供资发生变化以来堕胎率的变化。我们将研究是否某些妇女群体受到这些变化的影响更大。如何让市民及其他持份者参与我们会举办工作坊，让市民参与制订研究计划、检讨政策转变及向政府提出建议，并会邀请市民担任这项计划的公众顾问。我们还将与其他利益相关者举行单独的研讨会，包括堕胎医疗服务提供者，慈善和倡导组织，国会议员，研究人员和地方政府代表。我们将提供理解和交流研究证据的培训，以支持有生活经验的个人为国家调查和关于影响妇女和儿童的政策的辩论做出贡献。我们将如何与参与该项目的公众分享我们的发现，我们将撰写一页的结果摘要。我们将把这些建议提交给监督这些政策的议会委员会，并与堕胎服务提供者和反贫困倡导者分享。我们将通过社交媒体上值得信赖的组织制作和分享信息图表，并在利物浦大学网站和其他在线论坛上发布明确的摘要。我们将在研究期刊上发表我们的发现，并将我们的数据提供给其他研究人员。