Alex Schulte is a second-year Health Policy PhD student at UC Berkeley and a Fellow in the Computational Social Science training program. She is also a Data Analyst at UCSF Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) and a Graduate Student Researcher at the Sexual Health and Reproductive Equity (SHARE) program at UC Berkeley. She was born and raised in rural Kentucky and completed her undergraduate education at UNC Chapel Hill, where she majored in Economics and Health Policy. Before starting her PhD program, Alex was a Program Officer at the Deloitte Health Equity Institute, where she collaborated with local nonprofits and foundations to improve maternal health equity. After completing her doctorate, Alex plans to continue a career in reproductive health research with the goal of improving access to care for underserved and marginalized populations — ideally at a reproductive health research program in the southern U.S., where disparities in access are particularly stark. Alex’s dissertation research, and this project, will explore how religious prohibitions may influence the health and safety of pregnant people. Specifically, she will quantify the impact of the Catholic Church’s Ethical and Religious Directives (ERDs) on reproductive health service provision and clinician behavior in U.S. hospitals. Alex plans to advance the literature by utilizing quantitative modeling methods and large national datasets to investigate and extend previous qualitative research. By generating this empirical evidence, she hopes to support data-driven decision making in clinical practice and public policy to ensure patient-centered access to essential medical care.