After I finished my undergraduate degree at Santa Clara University in California, I moved to Boston where I completed my medical school training at Boston University School of Medicine. I was fortunate to stay at Boston Medical Center for my residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology, a department that had both strong Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) ...Read more >

I am an Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Director of Obstetrical Services, and Vice Chair for Quality and Safety with appointments in the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics and the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania. I have developed a successful research program in Maternal Fetal Medicine that ...Read more >

I am a womanist theo-ethicist/reproductive justice (RJ) expert whose scholarship is situated at the intersections of womanist theology and ethics and reproductive justice. I am one of the founding mothers of the RJ movement. This study examines the ways in which religious doctrine and dogma impact the reproductive decisions and sexual attitudes and behaviors of ...Read more >

Background: Expanding the pool of trained, competent medication abortion providers is necessary to fill gaps in access to safe abortion in the US. The scope of practice for advanced practice clinicians (APCs), including nurse practitioners (NPs), certified nurse midwives (CNMs) and physician assistants (PAs), extends well beyond the skills required to safely manage medication abortion ...Read more >

Background: Medical abortion with mifepristone and misoprostol is highly effective; however, continuing pregnancy can still occur, especially as gestation advances. Even after completing treatment, some women with continuing pregnancies change their mind. Legislators began to focus on women who change their mind after mifepristone administration following a 2012 report of “medical abortion reversal” in which ...Read more >

Background: Women are seeking abortion at increasingly earlier gestations which increases the likelihood that providers will have difficulty visualizing the pregnancy on ultrasound, the current standard of care in most abortion clinics in the US. Women with no gestational sac visualized on ultrasound have a pregnancy of unknown location (PUL). The most serious risk of ...Read more >

Background: New strategies are needed to help people overcome barriers to abortion and achieve greater reproductive autonomy. Demedicalized models for medication abortion care have the potential to greatly expand access to abortion, particularly for those most affected by distance and cost barriers. Methods: The study is a patient-centered, clinically supported, prospective observational study among people ...Read more >

Background: Current regulations restrict access to medication abortion and contribute to the perception that women cannot safely take medication abortion pills (mifepristone and misoprostol) on their own without clinician supervision. However, these drugs meet many of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) criteria for being available over the counter (OTC). Medication abortion is safe, has ...Read more >

Background: While mifepristone has the potential to expand abortion access in the US through integration into primary care, initial expectations for provision by family physicians have not been realized. Research indicates that physician motivation to provide medication abortion is an important factor in overcoming logistical and organizational barriers to abortion provision. Methods: For this project, ...Read more >

Background: A rapid increase in legislation restricting access to clinical abortion services in the US has sparked renewed interest in self-managed abortion as a response to clinic access barriers. At the same time, rising interest in self-care and the role of the internet as a go-to source of goods and services raises the possibility that ...Read more >