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Unintended pregnancies cost American taxpayers $21 billion each year, according to a new analysis released by the Guttmacher Institute. That averages out to a cost of about $366 per every woman of childbearing age in the U.S. Overall, more than half of U.S. pregnancies are unintended, and roughly 1-in-20 American women of reproductive age have an unplanned pregnancy each year. (Ingraham, 3/3)

It’s a problem once thought to be intractable, and yet pregnancy and birth rates for black and Latina teens have dropped precipitously in the past two decades—at a much faster clip than that of white teens. Despite this, black and Latina girls are more than twice as likely as white girls to become pregnant before they leave adolescence. (Wlitz, 3/3)

UnitedHealth, the country’s largest insurer, will soon require doctors to get permission before performing most types of inpatient hysterectomies, a procedure in which the uterus is removed, often to prevent or treat cancer. The move follows lengthy debate over a surgical device believed by many medical researchers to spread cancer in patients -- and highlights how insurers can also play watchdog. (Panquette, 3/3)