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In nearly two hours of oral arguments on Dec. 1, 2021, U.S. Supreme Court justices, petitioners, and attorneys discussed the dismantling of Roe v. Wade and national access to safe and legal abortion before fetal viability.
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Access to safe and legal abortion likely will end for half of America by this summer when the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide on Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban, according to reproductive healthcare providers, attorneys, and leaders. Both the Mississippi case and the Texas six-week abortion ban — which the court allowed to continue in December 2021 — will potentially lead to abortion bans in dozens of states.
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Women’s preferences in contraceptive methods can change with time and circumstances in their lives, new research shows. Values and preferences are influenced by the contraceptive method’s effectiveness, access, convenience, side effects, societal norms, and other issues.
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States and community health centers could do a better job of removing access barriers to oral contraceptives, according to the results of a new study. Only a small percentage of states and community health centers provide patients with a one-year supply of oral contraceptives on site.
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A survey of OB/GYN residents revealed a significant difference in exposure to placement of intrauterine devices (IUDs) based on whether they were working as residents in states that expanded Medicaid vs. states that did not. The responses revealed those who worked in university programs in states that accepted Medicaid expansion inserted more IUDs and received more experience with immediate postpartum IUD training than did those in states that did not expand Medicaid.
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Teen birth rates have fallen in recent years, but the rate in the United States is higher than in other high-income countries, including the Netherlands and all Scandinavian countries. The U.S. teen birth rate is 16.7 births per 1,000 teens — 73% lower than the peak in 1991. In Norway, the teen birth rate is 2.8 births per 1,000 teens.
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Only one in 10 patients who received a recent positive pregnancy test reported their reproductive health provider discussed all pregnancy options at clinics in a Southern publicly funded family planning system, researchers noted. The patients whose providers mentioned all pregnancy options were more likely to rate their counseling as excellent on all items, compared with patients who did not receive information on all options.
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Using medical simulators for obstetrics training can lower the incidence of medical malpractice claims, according to recent research from CRICO/Risk Management Foundation of the Harvard Medical Institutions, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and the Center for Medical Simulation. OB/GYNs who participated in medical simulation training experienced fewer claims in the retrospective analysis. The researchers compared malpractice claim rates for 292 OB/GYNs who were insured by the same company and attended at least one simulation training session over 17 years.
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Pregnancy-capable individuals with a history of opioid use disorder (OUD) hold an inherent distrust of the healthcare system. This is one reason why contraceptive counseling could be a challenge for this population. New research through Boston Medical Center shows that individuals with OUD exhibit similarities to individuals with other chronic medical conditions when they are choosing a contraceptive method.
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Title X organizations and other groups praised the Biden administration for reversing the draconian changes to the Title X family planning program that were enacted in 2019 under the Trump administration.
