While the 2022 US Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization was about abortion, there is also evidence of its impact on both the demand for contraception and state-level availability of contraception services with the closure of family planning clinics that provided both abortion and contraceptive care. Medicaid is the largest payer ...Read more >

This project investigates contraceptive access within the complex legal landscapes of North Carolina and Virginia through in-depth case studies examining how state-level laws are designed, implemented, and experienced. The selection of these states leverages our established collaborative relationships with clinicians and reproductive health policy experts. While focused on two states, the research utilizes structured analysis ...Read more >

Female permanent contraception (PC, formerly sterilization) is the most common contraceptive method in the US and is often requested during the postpartum period. However, many patients—especially those with public insurance or other markers of marginalization—do not receive desired postpartum PC. In West Virginia (WV), recent policy changes, including heightened abortion restrictions, federal Medicaid rule modifications, ...Read more >

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 ...Read more >

Advanced practice clinicians (APCs), including nurse practitioners, midwives, and physician associates, play an important but often unrecognized role in the provision of clinician-provided abortion care in the United States. The most recent quantitative national data on the volume of abortion care provided by APCs is from 2014, which indicate that APCs provided at least some ...Read more >

While midwives are authorized to provide abortion care in 24 states and DC, their role in abortion provision remains largely invisible or underrepresented in national surveillance efforts. Abortion care provided by midwives, who were among the first abortion providers in this country, has been firmly established as safe, effective, and acceptable. To ensure accurate surveillance ...Read more >

Abortion surveillance in the U.S. has historically focused on facilities rather than the clinicians who provide care. In the wake of the Dobbs decision and the rapidly shifting abortion landscape, understanding who delivers abortion care is essential for training, supporting, and sustaining this critical workforce where abortion remains legal. This secondary data analysis will use ...Read more >

The need for well-trained abortion providers is greater than ever for all and dire for the most marginalized communities whose health outcomes worsen as abortion access further dwindles. Patients from such communities have better health outcomes when clinicians reflect them demographically. These clinicians, most often those underrepresented in medicine (URiM), BIPOC, and/or those in primary ...Read more >

Access to abortion depends in large part on the workforce of clinicians who provide it, but there is significant variation in this workforce. The Dobbs v Jackson decision in June 2022 resulted in massive changes in the ability to provide abortion care, and updated data is critical to our understanding of abortion access. This study ...Read more >

Aline Vandenbroeck holds a B.S and M.S. in Economics and is a doctoral candidate in Health Policy & Administration at the University of Illinois Chicago. Coming from Belgium—where broad access to contraception contrasts with relatively restrictive abortion laws (including a 12-week limit and mandatory waiting periods)—and arriving in the U.S. just two months after the ...Read more >