Amid a fast-changing landscape of growing threats to reproductive healthcare access, rigorous, policy-informed research is more critical than ever for systematic change in Wisconsin and beyond. In 2023, CORE will advance eight new research projects to monitor and document access to essential reproductive healthcare, including contraceptives and abortion care, and reproductive autonomy in a post-Dobbs Wisconsin.
Projects are listed in alphabetical order by last name of the principal investigator/s.
Past Research
View CORE's past research projects.
When Pregnancies Become Complicated: Consequences of Dobbs for Patients and Ob-Gyn Physicians in Wisconsin
This project will document and analyze how the post-Dobbs legal landscape impacts ob-gyns’ ability to provide care to patients needing abortion for medical reasons and to deliver routine pregnancy care to patients in abortion-adjacent settings in Wisconsin. In addition, the research team will examine the institutional and system-level factors that have shaped physicians’ experiences and identify opportunities to support physicians’ efforts to deliver high-quality obstetric and abortion care amidst an uncertain and threatening legal landscape.
Principal Investigator
Co-Investigators
The Consequences of Abortion Restrictions for Intimate Partner Violence and Child Welfare Involvement
This project will investigate the unintended effects of restrictive state abortion laws about mandatory waiting periods on the prevalence of intimate partner violence, intimate partner homicide, and the degree to which families are involved in the child welfare system – bridging a prominent gap in the existing research literature. This work is part of an effort to build a rigorous evidence base regarding the broader impacts of abortion restrictions on individual and family health and wellbeing.
Co-Principal Investigators
Co-Investigator
What Factors Shape Black People’s Revealed Abortion Method Preferences?
Racial and ethnic variation exists in abortion method prevalence and preferences but is largely unstudied. This mixed-method research project will identify how reproductive-aged Black people value the abortion method relative to other care attributes and the structural and legal barriers that can shape those preferences. The research team will utilize a national dataset to capture the experience of Midwestern Black people, who experience uniquely high levels of socioeconomic inequality and wide state-level variation in barriers to abortion.
Principal Investigator
Co-Investigators
Evidence-Based Monitoring of Abortion Clinics and Funds in Wisconsin and Bordering States: Tracking Trends and Gaps in Care
Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, Wisconsin reverted to an 1849 law that makes providing an abortion a felony, and abortion is no longer available in the state. Researchers in this project will collect monthly data from clinics in Wisconsin and its bordering states (Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, and Iowa) and from abortion funds to maintain and grow a real-time database of 1) the number, type, and gestational age of abortions obtained by Wisconsin residents and 2) the numbers and types of requests for financial or logistical support from Wisconsin abortion seekers. This information is critical to documenting the degree to which people can obtain care out of state, how clinical capacity is impacted, and any changes in the type and gestational age of abortion obtained by Wisconsinites.
Principal Investigator
Co-Investigators and Staff
Experiences of Wisconsinites Who Consider or Seek Abortion in a post-Roe Wisconsin: Impacts on Health and Wellbeing
Abortion-restrictive policies place unnecessary burdens on and undermine people’s reproductive autonomy. This project will document the health, wellbeing, and social consequences of Wisconsinites restricted from obtaining desired abortion services. The team will draw data using three strategies: abortion clinic recruitment, prenatal clinic recruitment, and online recruitment of Wisconsinites. Mixed-method research strategies include online surveys and interviews. Results from these three interconnected studies will contribute to a critical evidence base for legislative and advocacy efforts in the coming years.
Principal Investigator
Co-Investigators and Staff
The Progressive Legislative Agenda: What Type of Policies Do Legislators Introduce and Why?
Democrats have been systematically underperforming Republican legislators in the introduction of abortion-related legislation. This project will examine whether this low rate of pro-abortion legislation is unique to the issue of reproductive rights and abortion or part of a larger trend in the progressive agenda in Wisconsin. Additionally, researchers will compare abortion-related bill introduction in Wisconsin to states with a similar political culture, political makeup, and legislative operations. They will identify the barriers and facilitators for introducing pro-abortion legislation by interviewing individuals involved in the legislative process.
Co-Principal Investigators
Measuring Contraceptive Access at the Population Level Using Novel Survey Items
This project centers around developing concise, novel survey items that directly measure contraceptive access at the population level based on self-reported reasons for nonuse. These novel survey items will be piloted among a population-based sample of postpartum Wisconsinites using the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS). Additionally, the data will be analyzed to document the proportion of Wisconsinites who lack access to contraceptive care and to explore which sociodemographic groups may be disproportionally affected by barriers to access. Preventing (versus terminating) unwanted pregnancies is an increasingly important strategy for people in Wisconsin, and therefore identifying gaps in contraceptive access is even more momentous.
Principal Investigator
Abortion as a Part of Reproductive Health and Justice Efforts in Wisconsin: Landscape and Leader Power Mapping
CORE has partnered with UBUNTU Research and Evaluation to execute three aims in this project: conduct a needs assessment regarding abortion’s role in the work of reproductive health and justice organizations in post-Roe Wisconsin; using the data collected, develop a power map of resources, strategies, actors, assets, obstacles, and opportunities related to abortion-related efforts; and create a virtual community database of reproductive health and justice networks and other community-facing resources designed to support stakeholders in achieving their organizational goals related to abortion. CORE will use the results to continue to build our network, inform engagement resource allocation, and identify new coalitions and partnerships.