Young people are more concerned about pregnancy than STIs

Young people aged 15-24 are less than a quarter of the population, yet they get half the estimated 20 million new cases of STIs each year. STIs and unplanned pregnancies disproportionately affect youth in juvenile facilities, foster care or experiencing homelessness. Communities of color and LGBTQ...

How to develop compassionate, nonpunitive, in-hospital substance use policies

In a new commentary, authors from San Francisco General Hospital argue that hospital policies should facilitate therapeutic responses instead of leaving healthcare workers to apply potentially stigmatizing beliefs about addictions.

Racism motivates and hinders aspiring midwives of color

New research from the Abortion Care Training Incubator for Outstanding Nurse Scholars (ACTIONS) program at the University of California, San Francisco, and Commonsense Childbirth found that the high cost of midwifery education and related costs like loss of income while enrolled in school were...

Understanding the fear that birth control causes infertility

New research led by Erica Sedlander explored what’s associated with this myth to suggest strategies to address it and help people make informed choices about using birth control.

Health care provider decision making on reporting prenatal substance use

Discussions of alcohol and/or drug use during pregnancy often focus on the harms cause by the substance use. But research shows that policies and health care practices adapted in response also cause harm. Two practices that contribute to those harms are reporting of pregnant people’s substance use...

Telemedicine for birth control feels difficult for young adults experiencing food and housing insecurity

The COVID-19 pandemic motivated healthcare providers to expand telemedicine to prevent spreading the virus. Telemedicine offers a safe and effective way to support people starting or continuing contraception. It can help increase access to care, especially for people in rural areas or underserved...

Centering Black women’s abortion experiences

New research from Dr. Katherine Brown and team provides an alternative by centering the experiences of Black women and working to understand how they experience abortion care and the impact of structural racism on those experiences.

Meet Purba Chatterjee, connector working to decolonize global health

Serving as an HIV counselor in San Francisco at the height of the HIV epidemic helped Purba Chatterjee connect with her calling. Since growing up in India, she had always been interested in health but didn’t quite know how to make it a career. After taking a course on the biology of AIDS as an...

Clinics’ challenges providing birth control during the pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare providers have worked to balance patients’ access to health services with public health. While professional and public health organizations agreed that contraception is an essential service, providers also had to respond to social distancing mandates,...

Almost half of US ob-gyn residents won’t get abortion training if Roe v. Wade is overturned

By the end of June, the Supreme Court will issue a decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, a direct challenge to the right to abortion protected by Roe v. Wade. If Roe is overturned, 26 states are certain or likely to ban abortion.