A headshot of Steph Herold

Steph Herold, MPH

Research Analyst

Steph Herold, MPH, is a Research Analyst and lead researcher of the Abortion Onscreen team, studying the portrayal of abortion on television and in film. Steph has over fifteen years of experience in the reproductive health, rights, and justice fields, and has won several awards, including the Rosie Jimenez Award from the Women’s Medical Fund. Steph has co-authored over a dozen peer-reviewed publications and grey literature papers mainly focusing on abortion onscreen, abortion stigma, and self-managed abortion. Her past board tenure includes serving on the Board of Directors of All-Options, the Advisory Board of ReproAction, the Board of Directors of the New York Abortion Access Fund, the inaugural Steering Committee of the International Network for the Reduction of Abortion Discrimination and Stigma, and the Board of Directors of ACCESS: Women’s Health Justice. Steph earned her MPH from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and her BA from Bryn Mawr College.

For a full list of Steph Herold's publications, awards, and presentations, click here.

Citations
  • Herold S, Woodruff K. ‘It made me feel compassion for her as if I was rewatching myself’: an exploratory study of how people who have had abortions respond to three contemporary television abortion plotlines. Culture Health & Sexuality. April 2026; https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2026.2641524.
  • Herold S, Narendorf P, Hoffman B. Reading the comments: An exploratory quantitative analysis of YouTube comments in response to abortion plotlines on fictional television programs. Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare. August 2025; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.srhc.2025.101135.
  • Brooks JJ, Suresh S, Relova J, Radhakrishnan M, Liu C, Walter N, Sisson G, Herold S. A Content Analysis of Abortion Storylines on U.S. Streaming Services: Lessons from Narrative Persuasion. Media Psychology. January 2025; https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2025.2459289.
  • Herold S. “I Love My Kids, This Abortion is not Because I Don’t”: The Meanings of Motherhood and Abortion on U.S. Television, 2013—2023. Television & New Media. December 2024; https://doi.org/10.1177/15274764241303740.
  • Herold S. “Women's Lives Are on the Line, and Our Hands Are Tied”: How Television Is Reckoning With a Post-Dobbs America. Women's Health Issues. October 2024; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.whi.2024.09.004.
  • Herold S. Abortion in entertainment media, 2019–2024. Current Opinion in Obstetrics and Gynecology. July 2024; https://doi.org/10.1097/GCO.0000000000000977.
  • Herold S, Natalie Morris, MPH, Biggs MA, Schroeder R, Kaller S, Sisson G. Abortion pills on TV: An exploratory study of the associations between abortion plotline viewership and beliefs regarding in-clinic and self-managed medication abortion. Contraception. February 2024; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.contraception.2024.110416.
  • Herold S, Becker A, Schroeder R, Sisson G. Exposure to Lived Representations of Abortion in Popular Television Program Plotlines on Abortion-Related Knowledge, Attitudes, and Support: An Exploratory Study. Sex Roles. January 2024; https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-024-01448-3.
  • Herold S, Sisson G. ‘I could see myself doing something like that’: US women’s engagement with characters who experience abortion, adoption and surrogacy on Little Fires Everywhere. Culture Health & Sexuality. August 2023; https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2023.2242436.
  • Herold S, Sisson G. “You can’t tell this story without abortion”: television creators on narrative intention and development of abortion stories on their shows. Communication, Culture and Critique. April 2023; https://doi.org/10.1093/ccc/tcad016.
  • Sisson G, Walter N, Herold S, Brooks JJ. Prime-time abortion on Grey's Anatomy: What do US viewers learn from fictional portrayals of abortion on television?. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. September 2021; 1- 10. doi:10.1363/psrh.12183.
  • Woodruff K, Berglas NF, Herold S, Roberts SCM. Disseminating Evidence on Abortion Facilities to Health Departments: A Randomized Study of E-mail Strategies. Health Communications. June 2021; [Epub ahead of print].
  • Herold S, Sisson G, Renee Bracey Sherman. “I can’t believe your mixed ass wasn’t on the pill!”: race and abortion on American scripted television, 2008-2019. Feminist Media Studies. December 2020; DOI: 10.1080/14680777.2020.1856908.
  • Herold S, Sisson G. Abortion on American television: An update on recent portrayals, 2015-2019. Contraception. September 2020; 102(6):421-423.
  • Woodruff K, Schroeder R, Herold S, Roberts SCM, Berglas NF. Experiences of harassment and empowerment after sharing personal abortion stories publicly. Contraception: X. February 2020; 20:100021.
  • Herold S, Sisson G. Hangers, Potions, and Pills: Abortion Procedures on American Television, 2008 to 2018. Women's Health Issues. July 2019; 29(6):499-505.
  • Sisson G, Herold S, Woodruff K. “The stakes are so high”: interviews with progressive journalists reporting on abortion. Contraception. September 2017; 96(6):395-400.
  • Sisson G, Herold S. “The stakes are so high”: Journalists Reporting on Abortion. National Abortion Federation Annual Meeting. August 2017.
  • Cockrill K, Herold S, Upadhyay UD, Baum SE, Blanchard K, Grossman D. Addressing Abortion Stigma Through Service Delivery: A White Paper. September 2013.

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April 24, 2026

‘It made me feel compassion for her as if I was rewatching myself’: an exploratory study of how people who have had abortions respond to three contemporary television abortion plotlines

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