Patricia Donovan, Vice President for Public Education

Patricia Donovan directs the editing, production and dissemination of all Guttmacher Institute publications and oversees the Institute’s communications activities, including its Web site. She joined the Institute in 1972 as Editor of Family Planning/Population Reporter, a bimonthly that reported on court decisions and state laws pertaining to sexual and reproductive health. In 1981, she became Senior Associate for Law and Public Policy and a contributing editor to Family Planning Perspectives. Ms. Donovan served as Director of Publications from 1999 to 2004, when she was named Vice President for Public Education. Ms. Donovan is the author of numerous special reports, policy papers and journal articles on a wide range of sexual and reproductive health issues, including teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, abortion and welfare reform. Her reports include The Politics of Blame: Family Planning, Abortion and the Poor and Testing Positive: Sexually Transmitted Disease and the Public Health Response. In addition, she was the principal writer of the Institute’s report Sex and America’s Teenagers and a frequent contributor to the Institute’s policy journal, The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy. Ms. Donovan is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College. Before joining the Institute, she worked at Newsweek, the Voice of America and NBC News.

Recent Publications Include:

Donovan P, The 'Illegitimacy Bonus' and State Efforts To Reduce Out-of-Wedlock Births, 1999, Family Planning Perspectives, 31(2):94-97.

Donovan P, Caught Between Teens and the Law: Family Planning Programs And Statutory Rape Reporting, 1998, The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, 1(3):5-7.

Donovan P, When Plans Opt Out: Family Planning Access in Medicaid Managed Care, 1998, The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, 1(4):8-11.

Donovan P, Falling Teen Pregnancy, Birthrates: What’s Behind the Declines? 1998, The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, 1(5):6-9.

Donovan P, School-Based Sexuality Education: The Issues and the Challenges, Family Planning Perspectives, 1998, 30(4):188-193.

Donovan P, Can Statutory Rape Laws Be Effective in Preventing Adolescent Pregnancy?, Family Planning Perspectives, 1997, 29(1): 30-34, 40.

Donovan P, The 'Family Cap': A Popular but Unproven Method of Welfare Reform, 1995, Family Planning Perspectives, 27(4):166-71.

Donovan P, Judging Teenagers: How Minors Fare When They Seek Court Authorized Abortions, 1983, Family Planning Perspectives, 15(6):259-67.