COntraceptive COst COverage in BElgium
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The 3CoBe project (COntraceptive COst COverage in BElgium) offers a critical analysis of contraceptive cost coverage policies through the lens of “contraceptive autonomy,” understood as the ability to make a free, informed, and full choice regarding contraception. By adopting an interdisciplinary approach and mixed methods, the project aims to shed light on the tensions between public health and reproductive justice, drawing on the concepts of biopower and the governance of reproductive bodies.
The Belgian case—particularly the Demotte measure (2004), which provides free access to certain contraceptives for young and precarious women through the third-party payment system—serves as a key empirical illustration. The 3CoBe project seeks to study this measure to understand how a single policy can produce contrasting effects depending on individuals’ positions within social and racial hierarchies.
The project is structured around three Work Packages (WPs):
- WP1 traces the socio-political history of contraceptive cost coverage in Belgium since 1973, analyzing power relations between institutional and activist actors;
- WP2 investigates recent trends in contraceptive use using Belgian health and population register data, identifying differentiated effects of free access based on age, socioeconomic status, and migration background;
- WP3 explores the contraceptive trajectories of women from diverse backgrounds to understand the determinants of contraceptive choices over the life course.
Through this multidisciplinary approach, the 3CoBe project aims to contribute to a nuanced understanding of contemporary contraceptive cost coverage policies and how they shape bodily regulation and the production of social health inequalities.