Reports show that teen pregnancy rates have been declining in the US for the past two decades. However, this broad brushstroke statistic does not reflect rural America, specifically rural Missouri. Twenty-two rural Missouri counties have teen pregnancy rates well above the national average of 43 per 1,000 and 14 of those counties saw an increase ...Read more >

Nationwide rates of incarceration for women have increased compared to rates of their male counterparts. Women in jails and prisons across the US are often of reproductive age and disproportionately include ethnic minorities who are less educated and often impoverished, creating one of the most vulnerable populations in our country. Multiple studies have demonstrated high ...Read more >

The majority of Americans believe that women should be able to choose freely between abortion and pregnancy. However, for many women, this ”choice” is simply unavailable. There are a multitude of barriers to abortion access in the US, which in effect, prevent women from making their own decisions about pregnancy. These barriers include the availability ...Read more >

While recent studies show that there are barriers identified to providing medical abortions, there are clinics and physicians that overcome these barriers to provide the service. Prior research has not specifically identified barriers preventing doctors from providing medical abortions in South Dakota. Currently, Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota (PPMNS) is the sole provider ...Read more >

Historically, the field of family planning has not considered the role of sexual identity in shaping family planning needs. Given that roughly 20% of women under 30 identify as something other than heterosexual and face reproductive health disparities, family planning must be attuned to the needs of this population. Sexual minority women, including lesbian and ...Read more >

Access to dilation and evacuation is limited in most of the US. Induction termination (also referred to as medical abortion or labor induction) is an acceptable alternative to dilation and evacuation as a method for second-trimester abortion and may be preferable to dilation and evacuation for some patients. Induction termination is typically offered to patients ...Read more >

Approximately, 1,038 students from California’s public universities access abortion off-campus every month and of those students, 519 received a medication abortion. Yet no university in California offers clinical abortion care at a student health center on-campus. The limited research assessing barriers to medication abortion among California students indicates that cost, distanced traveled, and delays in ...Read more >

Importance: Access to safe abortion has declined in New England states such as Maine and New Hampshire, where there has been a 20% decrease in the number of abortion clinics between 2011 and 2014.1 This is a core public health issue that affects racial and ethnic minorities and low SES women disproportionately. Primary care physicians ...Read more >

In the US, 11% of reproductive age women report illicit or non-prescription drug use in the past month, with opioids accounting for a large proportion of this use. Among women with opioid use disorder (OUD), 86% of pregnancies are unintended. It has also been shown that women with OUD are less likely to use highly ...Read more >

Amidst widespread efforts to address the unique health needs of resettled refugees in the US, barriers to reproductive healthcare among refugee women remain understudied and poorly understood. As the national political climate becomes increasingly hostile to both refugee and women’s health, a qualitative study of this underserved, vulnerable population’s experience of reproductive healthcare is urgently ...Read more >