Mark Edwards
Expanding opportunity by reducing unplanned pregnancy in the U.S.
Expanding opportunity with equitable access to contraceptive care. Before CEO Mark Edwards founded Upstream in 2014, he’d dedicated much of his career to efforts focused on expanding opportunity and mobility—work that led him to data showing how unplanned pregnancy plays an outsized role in changing the trajectories of poor and low-income women and families.
Mark Edwards"Reducing unplanned pregnancy at scale could be one of the great, measurable, and achievable public health and opportunity wins in our lifetime."
At the time, Delaware—where Upstream got its start—had one of the highest unintended pregnancy rates of all 50 states. Since Upstream launched its first initiative there, unintended pregnancies in Delaware have fallen by 25 percent in just three years—and the state saw the largest decline in abortion rates in the nation.
With an approach informed by a reproductive-justice framework, Upstream partners with health centers to train staff in patient-centered counseling and decision-making models and to deliver equitable access to the full range of contraceptive options.
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