Where We Work

Latin America & the Caribbean

Middle East & North Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa

United States

Multi-regional

What We Do

Women in the United States have more unintended pregnancies, more abortions, more preterm births, and more infant deaths than women in other developed countries. In part this is related to access to health care: most European countries have universal health care systems and there is more public investment in comprehensive reproductive health care. Use of contraception among low-income women and women of color in the US has declined over the past decade, likely due in part to declines in public funding for family planning services. In addition, state-level restrictions on abortion are increasing, and the 2007 federal abortion ban further threatens American women’s reproductive freedom. The shortage of abortion providers is also making it harder for women—particularly low-income women and women living in rural areas—to access abortion services. Between 1982 and 2000, the number of abortion providers shrunk by 38%, and 87% of US counties do not have an abortion provider.(1) 

 

Ibis’s US-focused work includes analysis of federal and state-level reproductive health policies, documentation of the impact of abortion restrictions—particularly on low-income women—and research on ways to simplify the full range of contraceptive options, including emergency contraception (EC), in order to improve women’s access to them. A growing area of our work focuses on the health needs of Latinas, immigrants, and women who live on the US-Mexico border. We also have several projects underway that assess the abortion and reproductive health content of medical and nursing education programs, which are part of larger curriculum reform efforts.    

 

As US policies and guidelines both directly and indirectly affect the policies and practices of other countries, much of our US-focused work is relevant to other regions. Our work in other parts of the world also informs our US work, providing examples of strategies and opportunities for research that can shed light on innovative ways to address US challenges.

 

Projects:

• Exploring women’s experiences with abortion self-induction in the US
• Documenting barriers to poor women’s access to abortion in the US
• Refuting biased, agenda-driven (BAD) science on abortion
• Providing online information about medication abortion to diverse communities
• Understanding OB/GYN residents’ decisions to train in and intentions to provide abortion services
• Assessing the reproductive health content of nursing education in the US
• Assessing the abortion content of advanced practice clinician (APC) education and training
• Moving oral contraceptives over-the-counter
• Evaluating over-the-counter use of oral contraceptives among US women living near the Mexico border
• Accessibility of emergency contraceptive pill-related services for sexual assault survivors in South Carolina
• Availability of emergency contraception in hospital emergency rooms
• How Catholic hospitals respond to state laws mandating provision of emergency contraception to sexual assault patients
• Increasing access to long-term contraceptive methods among young women in San Francisco
• Assessing the reproductive health content of undergraduate medical education in the US
• Providers’ perceptions of the diaphragm in Southern Africa and the United States
• Courageous choices: Profiles of young leaders in the reproductive rights movement
• Assessing hospital policies and practices on treatment of ectopic pregnancy

 

References:

1. Jones R, Zolna MRS, Henshaw SK, Finer LB. Abortion in the United States: incidence and access to services, 2005. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. 2008,40(1):6-16.