Research in 2017
We did not slow down on publishing our research in 2017 — we published 59 peer-reviewed research articles. Some highlights include:
- A study of 7 years of data from Iowa that definitively demonstrates the safety of telemedicine provision of medication abortion.
- An analysis of vital statistics from Texas showing how increasing distances to the nearest clinic were associated with declines in abortion at the county level.
- A study in Wisconsin that found that most women proceed to abortion subject to a law requiring them to view their pre-procedure ultrasound image.
- An examination of the relationship between distance traveled for abortion and where women seek potential follow-up care.
- A study of 40 years of both punitive and supportive state alcohol and pregnancy policies.
- A national survey of 1,430 women about their preferences for information about religious restrictions on reproductive care in Catholic hospitals.
Media and Op-eds in 2017
We also held strong to our commitment to disseminate our research results. Our work was featured in 223 media articles. Among those articles, 66 were written by news outlets that had not previously covered ANSIRH.
In addition to coverage of our research, my viral Twitter exchange with former Rep. Trent Franks around the 20-week abortion ban was highlighted in Teen Vogue.
We also wrote several op-eds and letters to the editor that were strategically placed with local and national media outlets, including:
- “Trump is wrong on abortion and Roe v. Wade: Column,” “One Year After The Supreme Court’s HB2 Ruling, Facts Matter More Than Ever,” and “Abortion 'reversal': the latest sham from anti-choice activists trying to end women's rights” by Dan Grossman, MD.
- “The Hearings on Trump’s Nominees Begin,” “If ‘Roe v. Wade’ Falls, Women Will Go to Jail,” “Why Did Contraception Stop Being Common Ground In The Abortion Wars?,” and “Abortion and the Democrats” by Carole Joffe, PhD.
- “Chile Has Relaxed Its Abortion Ban, But Does That Go Far Enough?” by Antonia Biggs, PhD.
- “Ky.’s new 20-week abortion ban will have serious consequences” by Ushma Upadhyay, PhD, MPH.
- “Why Graham-Cassidy Is A Disaster For Reproductive Health And An Assault On Reproductive Justice” co-authored by Monica McLemore, RN, MPH, PhD, and Diana Taylor, RN, MS, PhD.
Awards in 2017
ANSIRH researchers received some of our field’s most prestigious awards over the past year, including:
- Diana Greene Foster, PhD, was named the recipient of the 2017 Robert A. Hatcher Family Planning Mentor award from the Society of Family Planning
- Carole Joffe, PhD, received the Christopher Tietze Humanitarian Award, NAF’s highest honor, which recognizes "significant, lifetime contributions in the field of abortion care or policy."
- Monica McLemore, RN, MPH, PhD, received the 2017 Margretta Madden Styles Award from STTI Alpha Eta chapter in UCSF’s School of Nursing.
- Lauren Ralph, PhD, MPH, was named the recipient of Contraception’s 2016-2017 Daniel R. Mishell, Jr, MD Outstanding Article Award by Contraception for her publication, “Measuring decisional certainty among women seeking abortion.”
- Antonia Biggs, PhD, received a first-place award for her poster, “Five year suicidal ideation trajectories among women receiving versus being denied an abortion,” at the North American Forum on Family Planning.
ANSIRH’s 15th Anniversary
Over the past year, we hosted two celebratory events to honor our research, history, staff, and supporters.
On June 8th, ANSIRH researchers and collaborators gathered for a seminar on medication abortion. We discussed the history of ANSIRH’s commitment to researching medication abortion, current restrictions on the method, options for expanding provision, legislation that would improve access, and future directions.
On October 11th, we celebrated ANSIRH’s anniversary with donors, supporters, and friends. The evening featured guest speakers Dr. Tracy Weitz, ANSIRH co-founder, and Stephanie Toti, lead litigator in the Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt case.
Looking forward to 2018
ANSIRH will continue to produce rigorous research that supports the advancement of sexual and reproductive health for many years to come, and we are well-poised to tackle the many challenges in the year ahead for our field. Here’s a peek at what we have lined up in the coming months:
- The Turnaway Study will release the results of two analyses. The first publication, due to be released in the American Journal of Public Health in mid-January, examines the economic consequences of being able to access abortion compared to being denied a wanted abortion. The second analysis focuses on changes in alcohol, tobacco and drug use over five years among women who received abortions compared to those who did not.
- Ibis Reproductive Health and ANSIRH will publish the results of our medication abortion harm-reduction model in Peru where we surveyed women on whether or not they had an abortion and, if they did, what their experience was.
- Our ADAPT study will be sharing a new validated measure to prospectively assess women’s preferences around pregnancy.
- ANSIRH is planning to test a new telemedicine-based model of providing medication abortion. The California Home Abortion by Telemedicine (CHAT) Study will be the first of its kind in the U.S. and aims to reduce barriers for people who face geographic, financial, and logistical barriers to obtaining timely abortion care as well as increase their reproductive autonomy.
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