Texas Briefing

Why Can’t Texas Women Get Their Preferred Birth Control?


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More than half of Texas women can’t access their preferred birth control method — meaning they can’t use the method that works best for them. Gracia Sierra, a nonresident scholar at the Baker Institute and data scientist at Resound Research for Reproductive Health, sits down with senior health policy fellow Elena Marks to discuss how insurance status shapes access to contraception and why uninsured and publicly insured people are most likely to face barriers.

Sierra also lays out policy solutions to the gap, from expanding Medicaid to strengthening existing programs for low-income Texans, from her latest co-authored report for the Baker Institute.

Featured guests:

  • Gracia Sierra, Ph.D., https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/gracia-sierra
  • Mentioned in this episode:

    • Gracia Sierra et al., “Barriers to Preferred Contraceptive Use in Texas,” Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, November 4, 2025.
    • This conversation was recorded on Oct. 17, 2025.

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      Texas BriefingBy Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy