Society of Family Planning: Grants

Generating evidence to help sustain the no-test medication abortion strategy post-pandemic

Laura Frye, MPH, Gynuity Health Projects

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered the rapid implementation of innovations to reduce contact between patients and providers, including providing medication abortions without prior clinical exams or ultrasounds. The No-Test Medication Abortion (NTMA) study team expeditiously formed a cohesive working group and created infrastructure to collect data on patients receiving this model of care. Similarly other service ...Read more >

Signed, sealed, delivered: Patient experiences of innovative telehealth medication abortion services at Cedar River clinics

Emily Godfrey, MD, MPH, University of Washington

We request this Society of Family Planning research funding to address two of SFPRF’s priorities in generating evidence for novel abortion services: (1) to what extent does medication abortion with telemedicine shift abortion access for specific US patient populations and geographies? and (2) what are best practices in patient-provider communications related to improving telemedicine service ...Read more >

Self-determination of gestational age for early medication abortion using a history-based screening tool – LMP-SURE

Courtney Kerestes, MD, University of Hawai'i

The requirement of ultrasound to determine gestational age prior to medication abortion remains a common practice and creates an access issue. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, we began providing medication abortion without an ultrasound to patients with a reasonably sure last menstrual period (LMP) and a low risk for ectopic pregnancy. From our experience and ...Read more >

Access to and acceptability of telemedicine medication abortion in primary care

Silpa Srinivasulu, MPH, Reproductive Health Access Project

COVID-19 prompted healthcare organizations to innovate and adopt novel models for delivering abortion to their patients safely and with minimal contact. This project studies patients’ experiences of COVID-19-related telemedicine abortion, including mifepristone delivery, and examines the extent to which telemedicine shifted abortion access for patients served by the Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) primary care network ...Read more >

Putting the power in patients’ hands: Person-centered abortion care and clinical health outcomes for no-test telemedicine and clinic-based medication abortion in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

May Sudhinaraset, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles

In Spring 2020 amidst the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, UCLA Health implemented a no-test telemedicine abortion (NTTA) model of care, wherein women could access a medication abortion without an ultrasound or in-person clinic visit. Utilizing the strengths of our multi-disciplinary team, the proposed mixed-methods project seeks to examine potential differences between NTTA and clinic-based ...Read more >