Research

Wisconsin ob-gyns faced significant challenges and limited support in facilitating abortion care after the Dobbs decision, a new study reports. Unclear or absent guidance from healthcare institutions for abortion referrals contributed to poor patient experiences, exceptional physician burdens, and adverse clinical care.

Each year, CORE analyzes the most recent nationally available data to understand how Wisconsinites access abortion care despite numerous barriers and restrictions. While some receive care at clinics in Wisconsin, others turn to out-of-state telehealth providers or travel to states where abortion access is less restricted.

About 1 in 4 Wisconsinites (24%) report needing but not receiving one or more types of reproductive health care in the past 12 months, according to a new study. In addition, 6% of Wisconsin respondents reported they delayed or had trouble getting the birth control method they wanted in the past year.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A study published recently in the Journal of Health Economics links the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which curtailed abortion access in many states, to an uptick in child protective services (CPS) involvement, particularly among communities already marginalized and under-resourced.

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision in June 2022, the threat of Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion law detrimentally altered the ability of physicians to provide healthcare for pregnant patients and harmed patients facing pregnancy complications according to a new study by UW Collaborative for Reproductive Equity researchers.