Background: The United States has one of the highest teen birth rate in the entire developed world, despite a decline in rates over the last two decades. Declining teen pregnancy rates have been due in part to increasing knowledge, access, and utilization of contraception. Teen birth rates of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) women ...Read more >

Background: With less than 5% adolescents using IUDs, there is limited information on young women’s contraceptive decision making around choosing IUDs and their experiences with IUDs.  Prior qualitative studies have largely utilized in-depth interviews and centered around the time of pregnancy.  The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore why adolescents who were enrolled ...Read more >

Background: Reproductive autonomy (RA) means having control over one’s own fertility desires. Identification in a religious community may impact women’s decision-making abilities surrounding family planning. Upadhyay et al. developed a scale consisting of three domains that measure RA as it applies to a woman and her partner: freedom from coercion, communication, and decision-making. However, little ...Read more >

This project had the long-term goal of addressing the unintended pregnancy rate among Native Hawaiians, which is by the best evidence we have, the highest among the major racial groups in Hawaii. Hawaii has the 2nd highest unintended pregnancy rate in the nation. Addressing this health disparity would make strides toward empowering Hawaiians to achieve ...Read more >

Women who present for an elective abortion represent a population that is at risk for unintended pregnancy, and their contact with the health care system may seem an ideal time to discuss and provide contraception. Despite the fact that 90-95% of women receive a form of contraception at the time of an abortion, approximately half ...Read more >

Currently, there is a general unease of providers to recommend the intrauterine device (IUD) as a plausible birth control method for their solid organ transplant patients.  It is not uncommon to receive a consult from the transplant team to either remove a patient’s IUD or to prevent its placement for fear that there will be ...Read more >

Women presenting for abortion are at high risk of subsequent unintended pregnancies. Little is known about contraceptive use in the post-abortion setting, but some data suggest that contraceptive discontinuation and repeat pregnancy is high. Women choosing highly effective reversible (HER) contraception at the time of abortion are more likely to experience subsequent unintended pregnancies and ...Read more >

Background: Combined hormonal contraceptive pills (COCs) are the most frequently used method of contraception by women in the United States.  However, COCs are frequently discontinued secondary to hormonal side effects.  In recent studies, phosphodiesterase 3 inhibitors (PDE3s) have been shown to inhibit oocyte maturation and impair fertility in macaques, mice, and pigs.  Cilostazol, a class ...Read more >

One in six women in the United States experiences rape or attempted rape in her lifetime. Clinicians play an important role in the immediate care of sexual assault survivors, including treatment of injury, prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infection, prevention of pregnancy through provision of emergency contraception, collection of forensic evidence for prosecution of ...Read more >