Phase 1 of this project is a secondary data analysis of a subset of questions from an NIH-funded study designed to examine drug use in rural Appalachian women recruited from jails. We propose examining a subset of previously unanalyzed questions in the categories of (a) risky sexual behaviors, (b) pregnancy and abortion history, (c) contraceptive ...Read more >

Restrictions on abortion access, coverage, and funding in this hostile political climate create substantial barriers for women attempting to receive abortion care. These barriers disproportionately affect low-income women and people of color, but the full impact of financial barriers to abortion access remains unknown and innovative methodologic thinking is sorely needed. Traditional clinic-based study-designs suffer ...Read more >

Background: Despite availability of modern contraception, many women remain at risk for unintended pregnancy throughout sub-Saharan Africa due to unmet need for modern contraception. While we have data about general barriers to contraceptive use among non-users of contraception, we lack evidence about factors for each specific method that prevent non-users from using and motivate users ...Read more >

Objectives: Abortion providers are commonly depicted as dangerous and callous which generates distress for providers, undue fear among patients, and restrictive legislation. We hypothesized that disrupting these stereotypes could reduce medical marginalization for providers and decrease abortion stigma. We created a short documentary film with the aim of disrupting negative stereotypes, and we developed and ...Read more >

While access to family planning services, including highly effective contraceptive methods, has expanded significantly as a result of the Affordable Care Act, access to family planning services remains limited for certain populations, including new immigrants. This project seeks to examine the factors influencing Latino immigrants’ access to family planning services in South Carolina. The state ...Read more >

Objectives: North Carolina has one of the fastest growing Latino populations, yet providers have minimal information on how to address the family planning needs of this population. We explored three domains relating to postpartum care: family size intentions; influence of social networks in family planning decisions; and satisfaction with contraceptive care. Methods: We conducted semi-structured ...Read more >

Objective: To compare the probability of pregnancy after hysteroscopic compared to laparoscopic sterilization procedures. Methods: An evidence-based clinical decision analysis using a Markov model was performed to estimate the probability of pregnancy after a hysteroscopic sterilization procedure, a laparoscopic sterilization procedure with bipolar coagulation, and a laparoscopic sterilization procedure with silicone rubber band application over ...Read more >

Background: The web is an increasingly popular avenue for information gathering and political claims-making. To date, there has been no comprehensive investigation of online content about abortion. Recent research on Internet usage finds that women—and particularly users between 18 and 49, women’s reproductive years—regularly seek health information online, and search for information on abortion in ...Read more >

Purpose: Adolescents are at high risk for unintended pregnancy and abortion. Medication abortion accounts for 21% of early abortions in the US, and is well-tolerated and efficacious among adolescents. The purpose of this study is to understand if providers caring for adolescents have accurate knowledge to counsel on medication abortion. Methods: Using an online questionnaire, ...Read more >

While the Affordable Care Act (ACA) represents an extraordinary expansion of healthcare access, barriers to achieving reproductive health equity persist. This project seeks to investigate how insurer practices can limit and delay access to abortion and family planning care among Latinas in California’s Central Valley, an agricultural region lacking access to abortion providers and inundated ...Read more >