How did COVID affect abortion seekers early in the pandemic, and what lessons does that time hold for the current abortion policy landscape?
CORE investigator Laura Jacques and team looked to the popular social media platform Reddit to answer this question.
The researchers analyzed hundreds of Reddit posts from March-April 2020. Findings, published in the journal Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, documented the stress, fear, and despair experienced by abortion seekers when newly implemented healthcare policies dictated sudden changes to abortion access.
For example, Reddit posters described an inability to schedule appointments due to clinic closures or staffing challenges. Others, who had to order medication abortion pills by mail, described delays in receiving the pills.
Due to stay-at-home orders, some younger Reddit posters living with their parents struggled to keep their pregnancies and abortion-seeking private. Still others felt as if they wanted to have a child, but were forced to seek abortion due to COVID-related job loss and other economic struggles.
The findings provide insight into how abortion seekers might experience other sudden changes in abortion access – including 2022’s overturning of Roe v Wade. They also highlight chronic challenges such as cost barriers and stigma that have constrained U.S. abortion seekers for decades.
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