The impact of policy and legal stressors on immigrant women’s access to contraceptive care in South Dakota’s Title X clinics
Contraception
Awarded 2025
Documenting the impact of US policy and legal stressors on contraceptive care
Tsegab Arega, MPH
Innovations in Reproductive Health Access
$150,000

In response to the post-Dobbs policy landscape and the growing cultural and linguistic diversity in South Dakota, three community-based organizations funded by the SFP launched the Pasque Project, a community-driven initiative designed to better understand reproductive health needs in SD. As part of this effort, Pasque Project leaders conducted a qualitative study exploring immigrant women’s knowledge of and access to reproductive health care. This current proposal builds on SFP’s foundational investment in reproductive health research in South Dakota by directly examining changes in access since March 2024, when our previous study concluded, through 2026, a period during which the impacts of new federal policies are expected to take shape nationwide.
Guided by this context, our study seeks to answer the following research questions:
How have patterns in contraceptive method use among immigrant women in South Dakota’s Title X clinics shifted over time in relation to changes in federal reproductive health policy?
How have immigrant women in South Dakota drawn on personal, cultural, and community strengths to navigate changes in contraception access following legal and policy shifts throughout the Trump administration?
How have Title X providers in South Dakota adapted their clinical practices and communication strategies to support immigrant women’s contraceptive decision-making amid shifting federal reproductive health policies?