Objectives: Recent research from Texas found that self-provided and non-clinical abortions are on the rise, largely due to abortion restrictions. Anecdotal evidence from other abortion advocates suggests that some people seek alternative abortion methods for other reasons. This is the first qualitative study with a geographically diverse North American sample to describe people’s preferences, motivations, ...Read more >

This primary historical research project examines the concept of “unintended pregnancy” in social and cultural context, seeking to explain how such an intimate concept as pregnancy planning became one of the major goals of late 20th and early 21st century US public health. Though women have actively planned and prevented pregnancy since at least the ...Read more >

The mentorship of medical students is vital to the future of family planning research, advocacy and training the next generation of abortion providers. Most previous publications have focused on a clinical family planning curriculum for medical students in their third and fourth years of medical school. In this mid-career mentorship project, I will focus on ...Read more >

The training and research activities proposed in this Junior Investigator Career Development Award will expand my research program in reproductive health for incarcerated women and set the stage for future grants. I will survey a representative sample of prison and jail systems across the US to prospectively report the aggregate number of pregnant women, abortions, ...Read more >

I seek a Midcareer Mentoring Award to achieve my long-term career objectives: (1) reduce unintended pregnancy through interventions that enhance safe contraceptive health care delivery and improve access for disparate populations and (2) foster a cadre of research-scientists working to enhance family planning services in primary care settings. Since 2006, I have mentored 37 trainees. ...Read more >

Objectives: To assess late presentation for care, gestational age, and disparities in traveling for care in Mexico City’s public abortion program, called ILE. To replicate a recent publication (Koch et al) purporting to show that restrictive abortion laws are associated with reduced maternal mortality in Mexico. Methods: We extracted data from clinical charts and used ...Read more >

Objectives: Traditional contraceptive counseling has not been reliably associated with reducing unintended pregnancies, or led to increasing contraceptive uptake and continuation. This community based participatory research project aimed to identify appropriate interventions for both young women and contraceptive providers to support shared decision making within contraceptive conversations. Methods: Focus groups were conducted with nine groups ...Read more >

Objective: The goal of this study was to evaluate oral mifepristone 24 hours prior to vaginal versus buccal misoprostol as cervical preparation prior to second-trimester dilation and evacuation. Study Design: Women desiring abortion between gestational ages 16 weeks 0 days and 20 weeks 6 days were randomized to 200-mg mifepristone 20-24 hours and 400-mcg vaginal ...Read more >

Objectives: A 2008-2009 national survey estimated that 14% of obstetrician-gynecologists provide abortion care. We aimed to update this estimate and document barriers to provision. Methods: In 2016-2017, we performed a survey with a representative sample of Fellows of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. The survey was sent by email with an online link, ...Read more >

Objectives: to review the literature to quantify the risk of major adverse events linked to contraceptive methods and pregnancy; to supplement these findings using analyses from a large insurance claims database; to create a Markov model predicting risk of adverse events, and to develop a prototype smartphone app as a prototype that could serve as ...Read more >