Purpose: Adolescents are at high risk for unintended pregnancy and abortion. Medication abortion accounts for 21% of early abortions in the US, and is well-tolerated and efficacious among adolescents. The purpose of this study is to understand if providers caring for adolescents have accurate knowledge to counsel on medication abortion. Methods: Using an online questionnaire, ...Read more >

Objectives: Traditional contraceptive counseling has not been reliably associated with reducing unintended pregnancies, or led to increasing contraceptive uptake and continuation. This community based participatory research project aimed to identify appropriate interventions for both young women and contraceptive providers to support shared decision making within contraceptive conversations. Methods: Focus groups were conducted with nine groups ...Read more >

Objective: The goal of this study was to evaluate oral mifepristone 24 hours prior to vaginal versus buccal misoprostol as cervical preparation prior to second-trimester dilation and evacuation. Study Design: Women desiring abortion between gestational ages 16 weeks 0 days and 20 weeks 6 days were randomized to 200-mg mifepristone 20-24 hours and 400-mcg vaginal ...Read more >

Objectives: A 2008-2009 national survey estimated that 14% of obstetrician-gynecologists provide abortion care. We aimed to update this estimate and document barriers to provision. Methods: In 2016-2017, we performed a survey with a representative sample of Fellows of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. The survey was sent by email with an online link, ...Read more >

Objectives: to review the literature to quantify the risk of major adverse events linked to contraceptive methods and pregnancy; to supplement these findings using analyses from a large insurance claims database; to create a Markov model predicting risk of adverse events, and to develop a prototype smartphone app as a prototype that could serve as ...Read more >

The majority of all abortions in developing countries are performed in unsafe or illegal conditions, the consequences of which can be severe—including infection, infertility, and death. To understand the use and sequelae of illegal abortion and the effects of access to safe abortion services, a prospective longitudinal study of women with unwanted pregnancies is needed. ...Read more >

Objectives: When contraceptive and abortion care are separated, women having abortions may not tell their separate contraceptive provider about their method failure and abortion. We examined abortion disclosure rates to contraceptive providers, reasons for abortion nondisclosure, and factors associated with disclosure. Study Design: We conducted a voluntary, anonymous, self-administered survey of 202 women seeking medical ...Read more >

The socio-political climate in which abortion services occur differs significantly between the US and Canada. These different environments may impact recruitment, retention and quality of life for abortion clinicians as well as their approaches to medical practice of these services. Building on previous surveys of National Abortion Federation member clinics in the US in 1997 ...Read more >

In the US, one in five women report being sexually assaulted at some point in their life. Despite the fact that studies have shown that 5% of rapes lead to pregnancy, other research has shown that there is a gross underutilization of emergency contraception (EC) in prophylactic care for sexual assault survivors. In fact, a ...Read more >

New research suggests that sexual minority women (SMW) have an increased risk of unintended pregnancy compared to their heterosexual peers. While scholars have documented some of the pathways leading to teen pregnancy disparities for adolescent SMW, few studies have examined adult SMW’s elevated risk of unintended pregnancy, despite distinct differences between adolescent and adult developmental ...Read more >