High school graduation rates increased in areas where free or low-cost birth control was highly accessible, especially among Hispanic women, a study led by the University of Colorado Boulder recently found.

The study followed more than 170,000 women for seven years following the implementation of the Colorado Family Planning Initiative (CFPI), a 2009 program that expanded access to more forms of contraceptions across the state.

Researchers found that high school graduation rates among Coloradan women increased from 88% to 92%. An even greater increase was recorded among Hispanic women, as the graduation rate increased nearly 10%, according to the study.

“One of the foundational claims among people who support greater access to contraception is that it improves women’s ability to complete their education and, in turn, improves their lives,” said Amanda Stevenson, the study’s lead author and assistant professor of sociology at CU Boulder. 

“This study is the first to provide rigorous, quantitative, contemporary evidence that it’s true.”

The study was funded by a $2.5 million grant from the Eunice Kennedy National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, which allowed Stevenson and fellow reachers to see how greater access to contraception’s benefit women.

Throughout the study, researchers used data and surveys from the U.S. Census Bureau and gathered data on 5,050 Colorado women from before and after the policy change to determine whether there were benefits to the program.

Additionally, to eliminate the difference between CPFI and other factors, the team looked at data from women of similar age in 17 other states. 

Researchers found that CFPI decreased the number of young Colorado women dropping out of high school by 14%, or 3,800 students born between 1994 and 1996, according to the study.

“Supporting access to contraception does not eliminate disparities in high school graduation, but we find that it can contribute significantly to narrowing them,” Steveson said. 

Sara Yeatman, the co-author of the study and associate professor of health and behavioral sciences at CU Denver, said having access not only reduces abortions and unwanted pregnancies, but also empowers women.

“The confidence that you can control your own fertility can contribute to a young woman investing in he education and in her future,” Yeatman said.

The research team is now shifting efforts on a new study to determine whether increased access to birth control could influence women in other ways, such as attending and graduating college, improving their income long-term and reducing their chances of living in poverty. 

But Stevenson says their study, published on Wednesday, will hopefully open the door for supporting public funding of contraception. 

“When these arguments are based solely on the effect of contraception on fertility, it implies that poor women shouldn’t have children,” Stevenson said. “Our findings suggest that better access to contraception improves women’s lives.”