Background: After one of the longest drug review processes in Canadian history, in July 2015 Health Canada approved mifepristone/misoprostol, the gold-standard of medication abortion, for early pregnancy termination. However, Health Canada’s decision included a number of non-evidence based restrictions with respect to both gestational age eligibility and service delivery. Mifegymiso was finally introduced in early ...Read more >

The goal of our interdisciplinary project is to bring together researchers from three distinct fields—epidemiology, psychology, and medicine—to illuminate the experiences of sexual minorities who have had a teen pregnancy. We began a qualitative study with sexual minority women in Phase I of this grant, during which time we secured institutional review board approval, developed ...Read more >

California and Oregon were the first states in the US to expand the scope of pharmacist practice to include prescribing self-administered hormonal contraception under a statewide protocol. Both states implemented their pharmacist protocols in 2016. In California, wide-scale implementation of this law has been slow for a number of reasons, including that many retail pharmacy ...Read more >

Our formative work with abortion advocates revealed a need for more evidence about the safety of abortion, incidence of second trimester abortion, and the impact of the change in abortion law in Mexico City in 2007. Building on our current productive collaborations and responding to identified research needs, the goal of this proposal is to ...Read more >

Objectives: To develop and pilot test a mobile phone game intervention to decrease high risk sexual behavior (e.g. vaginal intercourse without condoms, multiple sexual partners, intercourse under the influence of drugs) in a group of 15-17 year-old Black and Latino adolescents. Methods: Iterative mixed methods design to create and develop a game prototype in waves ...Read more >

Immediate postpartum initiation of the etonogestrel contraceptive implant has been proven to decrease rates of rapid, repeat pregnancies. Evidence supports that in healthy women with term infants initiation of the contraceptive implant 1-3 days postpartum does not appear to have any adverse effects on lactogenesis or breastfeeding continuation. However, no high quality study to date ...Read more >

Objectives: To compare abortion-related morbidities and adverse events and costs from abortions provided at Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs) versus office-based settings. Methods: Retrospective cohort study of 49287 women continuously enrolled in US private health insurance who had 50311 induced abortions in ASCs or office-based settings 2011 – 2014. Outcomes were ascertained during the six weeks ...Read more >

Objectives: Immediate postpartum placement of the LNG-IUS can decrease unplanned pregnancy in the US. The objective of this study was to compare breastfeeding prevalence between women who receive the LNG-IUS immediately postpartum, or 4-6 weeks later. Methods: We conducted a parallel, randomized trial with 1:1 allocation at Women’s Hospital of North Carolina. The LNG-IUS was ...Read more >

Background: In Canada, 35.5% of all induced abortions are repeat abortions. To prevent recurrent unintended pregnancy, our service offers a copper intrauterine device (IUD), placed at the time of first trimester abortion. Our six year retrospective review indicated higher than expected one and five year repeat abortion rates among women with an IUD placed at ...Read more >

Objective: To determine the effect of the prostaglandin endoperoxide-synthase 2 (PTGS2) inhibitor celecoxib on ovulation and luteal events in women. Study Design: Randomized double-blind crossover design. Ovulatory reproductive-aged women underwent ovarian ultrasound and serum hormone monitoring during four menstrual cycles (control cycle, treatment cycle 1, washout cycle, treatment cycle 2). Subjects received study drug (oral ...Read more >