State-level Abortion Restrictions Will Negatively Impact Teens and Children

Hannah Lantos, Emma Pliskin, Elizabeth Wildsmith, Jennifer Manlove
October 20, 2022

In a major public health success, the teen pregnancy rate has declined substantially over the past several decades, as has the teen abortion rate. In 2017, teens accounted for only 6 percent of all pregnancies and 9 percent of all abortions, compared to 12 percent and 17 percent, respectively, in 2006 (see Figure 1). We expect, however, that the 2022 Supreme Court decision overturning Roe V. Wade will be harmful for teens, particularly for populations at higher risk of unintended pregnancy—including Black, Hispanic, or Indigenous teens; teens who are bisexual; teens who live in low-income families; and teens who live in the South—due to the many systemic hardships undergirding health disparities more broadly in the United States. These hardships drive lower access to high-quality sexual and reproductive health care, contraception, confidential care, unbiased and nondiscriminatory health care, and comprehensive sex education.

Continued: https://www.childtrends.org/blog/state-level-abortion-restrictions-will-negatively-impact-teens-and-children

20.10.2022

Telemedicine increases access to safe abortion care

28 SEPTEMBER 2022
NIÉMAH DAVIDS

Ground-breaking research into accessing safe abortion services in South Africa has revealed that telemedicine abortion is safe and effective, and a viable alternative to the conventional medical procedure, especially for women in under-resourced settings.

Scientists drew these and other conclusions after completing the world’s first randomised control trial (RCT) into the efficacy of telemedicine abortion – a medication-based abortion that generally relies on a two-drug combination and is aimed at women in their first trimester. The study was a joint collaboration between academics at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the Karolinska Institutet – a research-led medical university in Stockholm, Sweden.

Continued: https://www.news.uct.ac.za/article/-2022-09-28-telemedicine-increases-access-to-safe-abortion-care

28.09.2022

Featured

Research

Dr Margit Endler

telemedicine abortion

Canada – National survey of abortion care providers shows access has improved

UBC - SCIENCE, HEALTH & TECHNOLOGY
Sep 27, 2022

Researchers from UBC’s department of obstetrics and gynaecology recently surveyed 465 healthcare professionals who provided abortion care in Canada in 2019—the first such survey in seven years.

A key development in the time between the two surveys was Canada’s approval of mifepristone—the gold standard abortion pill—in 2015.

Continued: https://news.ubc.ca/2022/09/27/national-survey-of-abortion-care-providers-shows-access-has-improved/

27.09.2022

Featured

Research

improved access to abortion

Abortion in Kenya and Benin: medical safety isn’t enough – women and girls need to feel safe socially too

September 27, 2022
Ramatou Ouedraogo, Grace Kimemia, Jonna Both

Safe abortion and post abortion care are essential health services. But until the publication of the 2022 World Health Organization (WHO) abortion care guidelines there was a narrow definition of abortion safety. In previous WHO guidelines, medical safety was the guiding principle of safe abortion. Safety, according the WHO, referred to abortion carried out using the recommended methods, by a person with the necessary skills or in an environment that conformed to minimal medical standards, or both.

However, research shows that many girls and young women do not search for medical safety when seeking abortion care. They prioritise “social safety”. This is the case regardless of whether they live in settings with restrictive or more liberal laws. Women’s priority is avoiding prosecution and social stigma.

Continued: https://theconversation.com/abortion-in-kenya-and-benin-medical-safety-isnt-enough-women-and-girls-need-to-feel-safe-socially-too-189151

27.09.2022

medical safety of abortion

self-managed abortion

World Health Organization

The US Supreme Court abortion verdict is a tragedy. This is how research organizations can help

NATURE editorial
28 June 2022

In response to the demise of Roe v. Wade, universities and research organizations can support those affected, ensure education and research on abortion continue and advocate for evidence-based policy.

The consequences of the US Supreme Court’s 24 June decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the court’s own landmark 1973 decision that enshrined the constitutional right to abortion for nearly 50 years, are already being felt. By striking down Roe, the court has put abortion rights in the hands of US state legislators. They have already responded.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01760-6

28.06.2022

American Medical Association

Association of American Medical Colleges

USA – These researchers study abortion in states likely to ban it. That will make their jobs even harder

By Theresa Gaffney
June 21, 2022

Last year, Texas lawmakers passed the most restrictive abortion policy in the country. The state’s leading researchers on reproductive health care weren’t consulted when it was being crafted. But they started studying it the moment it passed.

“We are getting a glimpse in Texas of folks who, because of the way that the laws are written, are not able to get evidence-based care and their health and well-being is being put at risk,” said Kari White, the director of the Texas Policy Evaluation Project at the University of Texas Austin, which published two studies on the consequences of the law just six months after it went into effect.

https://www.statnews.com/2022/06/21/abortion-access-research-texas-wisconsin/

Long-Term Decline in US Abortions Reverses, Showing Rising Need for Abortion as Supreme Court Is Poised to Overturn Roe v. Wade

Guttmacher Institute - Rachel K. Jones, Jesse Philbin, Marielle Kirstein, Elizabeth Nash, Kimberley Lufkin
June 15, 2022

The long-term decline in abortions in the United States that started 30 years ago has reversed, according to new data from the Guttmacher Institute—underscoring that the need for abortion care in the United States is growing just as the US Supreme Court appears likely to overturn or gut Roe v. Wade.

According to new findings from Guttmacher’s latest Abortion Provider Census—the most comprehensive data collection effort on abortion provision in the United States—there were 8% more abortions in 2020 than in 2017.

https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2022/06/long-term-decline-us-abortions-reverses-showing-rising-need-abortion-supreme-court

15.06.2022

Featured

Research

Abortion Provider Census

abortion rates

Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization

Canada – Improving Indigenous communities’ access to reproductive health services

May 30, 2022
Richard Dal Monte, University of Victoria News

Many Canadians take contraception and reproductive rights for granted. Contraceptives are widely available at drug stores and supermarkets, and abortion has been legal since 1988.

But are reproductive services and medical procedures equally accessible to all residents of Canada?

A team of University of Victoria researchers reports that while the issue is complicated, Indigenous Peoples are disproportionately subject to inequitable access.

Continued: https://www.uvic.ca/news/topics/2022+knowledge-equal-access+news

30.05.2022

Featured

Research

Abortion Support Services Atlantic

Access to abortion services for Indigenous peoples in Canada

Astrid Pérez Piñán

Indigenous right to abortion

Indigenous women and abortion

Renée Monchalin

Health

Human Rights

USA – Studies detail current, future obstacles to abortion care

Distance to care could as much as triple in Ohio in a post-Roe scenario

April 20, 2022
Ohio State University

With an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court decision that is likely to further restrict abortion access, two new studies from The Ohio State University provide insights into what additional limits on abortion care could mean, particularly for those who will have to travel across state lines.

One study, published this week in the journal Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, found that proposed abortion bans in Ohio could substantially increase the distance to care for residents of the state. It's a finding likely to be repeated in restrictive areas throughout the nation, particularly in the South and Midwest, according to the researchers.

Continued: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220420151639.htm

20.04.2022

Featured

Research

Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization

Mikaela Smith

Payal Chakraborty

Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health

The Lancet Regional Health - Americas

USA – It Can Already Take Weeks To Get An Abortion

And the Supreme Court could soon make it take even longer.

By Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux
Data Analysis by Holly Fuong
Charts by Elena Mejía
Published Apr. 18, 2022

Last week, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a law outlawing abortion in the state. If it isn’t blocked by the courts, the legislation — which has no exceptions for rape or incest — would be one of the harshest measures to become law at a time when anti-abortion lawmakers are all but competing with each other to pass new restrictions.

But in a sense, Oklahoma legislators who want to end
abortion don’t have much more to do in their state. New data exclusively
analyzed by FiveThirtyEight shows that it’s already very difficult to get an
abortion appointment in Oklahoma — and it has nothing to do with the state’s
new ban. Ever since the Supreme Court allowed a highly restrictive abortion law
to go into effect in Texas last September, Oklahoma’s four abortion clinics
have been overrun with demand from out-of-state patients. When a team of
academic researchers posed as pregnant people and called the Oklahoma clinics
at the beginning of March, all four told the callers they couldn’t schedule
them for an appointment.

Continued: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/it-can-already-take-weeks-to-get-an-abortion/