The Bixby Center works to ensure that people have access to all methods of contraception and support to use or not use contraception based on their preferences, needs and values. We are at the forefront of clinical and social science research to improve contraceptive options and services around the world.

Research to improve care and increase access

• Beyond the Pill evaluates barriers to care and new approaches for improving access to contraception, especially for underserved populations, including adolescents and young adults.
• The Person-Centered Reproductive Health Program, led by Christine Dehlendorf, MD, researched the use of One Key Question screening tool and offered a more direct and patient-centered approach to people’s contraceptive needs.
• Kelsey Holt, ScD, Lauren Suchman, PhD, and colleagues explored how family planning providers and administrators are balancing population-level contraceptive goals with a human rights approach that meets the need and preferences of individual patients.
• Erica Sedlander, DrPH, led research in Ethiopia to understand what’s associated with the myth that birth control leads to infertility and help people make informed choices about using birth control.
• ANSIRH research showed how provider support for IUDs can lead to coercive practices.

Training and tools to provide comprehensive, person-centered care

• Beyond the Pill has trained more than 12,000 providers in topics including contraceptive counseling, implicit bias, emergency contraception. They offer free educational materials and clinical tools, used by clinics, hospitals, health departments, and schools.
• The Person-Centered Reproductive Health Program developed decision support tools for patients deciding on contraception and people considering postpartum tubal sterilization.
• Innovations for Choice and Autonomy created a framework to measure contraceptive agency, offering a tool for contraceptive programs around the world to center people’s ability to make and act on their own contraceptive choices.
• The UCSF Fellowship in Complex Family Planning, founded by Phil Darney, MD, has trained experts in obstetrics and gynecology and family medicine that have gone on to study contraceptive access, counseling, use and development.

Informing policy

• Bixby Center research showed that providing a year’s worth of birth control pills resulted in more people sticking with the method over time, and health systems and governments around the country have made this option available.
• Bixby members advocated for emergency contraception and daily birth control pills to be available over the counter, affordable, and accessible.