New research based on 42 interviews with pregnant Wisconsinites highlights key factors that impede or enable abortion access. Three emerged as particularly powerful and potentially addressable in influencing access: finances and insurance coverage, state abortion restrictions, and patient navigation services.
Year: 2026
Study links abortion restrictions to rise in intimate partner violence
A new study by University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers finds that state abortion restrictions enacted after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision are linked to higher rates of intimate partner violence (IPV). The analysis estimates that near-total abortion bans and increased travel distance to care contributed to about 9,000 additional incidents of IPV among women in affected states.
Abortion care in Wisconsin: New data shows growing role of telehealth
The latest report from #WeCount, a national effort to count the number of clinician-provided abortions in the United States, documents that abortion numbers continue to rise in both Wisconsin and the U.S., and telehealth is playing a growing role, with about one third of recent abortions for Wisconsin residents delivered by out-of-state shield law providers.
Study reveals major but overlooked role of healthcare institutions in shaping pregnancy-related care, regardless of abortion laws
A new study of Wisconsin obstetrician-gynecologists finds that healthcare institutions’ lack of clear clinical and legal guidance after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision not only shaped patient care but also increased clinician stress and eroded their trust in health systems.
Study: Non-use of contraception is often about choice, not access
A new study by researchers from the Reproductive Equity Action Lab, UW Collaborative for Reproductive Equity, and Guttmacher Institute, published in the journal Contraception, reveals that most people who aren’t using contraception — and many who have never used long-acting reversible contraception — say it’s because of personal preferences, not because they cannot access contraception.