Background: American adolescents are at higher risk for pregnancy than adolescents in other industrialized nations. Most know how to obtain and use contraceptives and deny they want babies. However, many do not use contraception because they are either ambivalent or indifferent about pregnancy. These states can develop in two different situations: when young women feel ...Read more >

In 2002, there were 1.29 million induced abortions in the US. Indeed, induced abortion has been cited as the most common surgical procedure in the US. Because of its commonality, clinicians who provide this service are sometimes faced with the dilemma of performing a surgical procedure on women who are anticoagulated. While first trimester surgical ...Read more >

This study examines the impact of state parental involvement laws on pregnant minors who seek abortions, focusing on the laws’ effect on fetal gestational age at the time of the procedure. The study uses a regression discontinuity design to analyze individual-level data on induced abortions reported to the National Center for Health Statistics by 14 ...Read more >

Mistimed pregnancy in diabetics may lead to significant health risks. Although good glycemic control prior to pregnancy can ameliorate these risks, most diabetic pregnancies start with suboptimal glucose control. Pregnancy planning requires effective contraceptive use. Little is known about contraceptive decision-making by diabetic women, and barriers to contraceptive use they face. Women from minority populations ...Read more >

Background: The levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system (LNG-IUS), Mirena, which prevents pregnancy for 5-7 years, has been determined to be highly effective, safe and well tolerated in the majority of users. Acceptability studies of the LNG-IUS in Zimbabwe have not been completed. Zimbabwean women have a need for access to long-term contraception that is safe, effective and ...Read more >

Reproductive health service providers, community-based organizations and women’s health and rights advocates in the US have become increasingly aware of the use of misoprostol to self-induce abortion outside of the clinic setting. Abortion self-induction has been reported predominantly among immigrant women, particularly those from Latin America and the Caribbean, but anecdotal reports suggest that US-born ...Read more >

Abortion patients, by definition, represent a population at high risk for additional unintended pregnancies and abortions: among women having abortions in the US in 2002, about one-half had already had a prior abortion. Abortion patients continue to have difficulty using contraceptive methods consistently and effectively. Improving providers’ efforts to provide contraceptive services during abortion care ...Read more >

Provision of effective contraception in the postpartum period is a vital component of pregnancy care. The intrauterine device (IUD) is an excellent method of contraception and is appealing for use in the postpartum period. Immediate postplacental insertion of the IUD (insertion within 10 minutes of delivery of the placenta) has been studied for decades, and ...Read more >

This project is a randomized controlled trial of two methods of cervical preparation before second trimester surgical abortion at between 14 and 16 weeks. During this period of pregnancy, cervical preparation is usual, but not uniform, and there are two methods of cervical preparation commonly used. One is the insertion of osmotic dilators, usually performed ...Read more >

The US has the highest unplanned pregnancy rate of any developed country (49%). Even women using birth control can experience an unplanned pregnancy. The number of US women taking oral contraceptives (OC) who experience an unintended pregnancy amounts to half a million over a year’s time. Many of these birth control failures occur because of ...Read more >