Free control leads to less abortion case

WASHINGTON - The Associated Press

Free birth control led to dramatically lower rates of abortions and teen births, a large U.S. study concludes. The findings come as a bitterly contested Obama administration policy is poised to offer similar coverage.

The project tracked more than 9,000 women in St. Louis, many of them poor or uninsured. They were given their choice of a range of contraceptive methods at no cost - from birth control pills to mistake-proof options like the IUD or a matchstick-sized implant.

When price wasn’t an issue, women flocked to the most effective contraceptives - the implanted options, which typically cost hundreds of dollars to insert.