Patricia Donovan, Vice President for Public Education

Patricia Donovan has been with the Guttmacher Institute since 1972. She began as editor of Family Planning/Population Reporter and became senior associate for law and public policy and a contributing editor to the Institute’s peer-reviewed journal Family Planning Perspectives in 1981. She was director of publications from 1999-2004 and was appointed Vice President for Public Education in 2005. In that position, Ms. Donovan oversees the Institute’s publications and communications activities, as well as its Web site.

Ms. Donovan is the author of numerous special reports, policy papers and journal articles on a wide range of 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 Guttmacher Institute’s report Sex and America’s Teenagers.

Ms. Donovan is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College. Before joining the Guttmacher Institute, she worked at Newsweek, the Voice of America and NBC News.

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.