Measuring abortion in claims data: What is the state of the science?

Health care insurance claims are an increasingly common data source for health outcomes research. While researchers have successfully used several claims data sources for many obstetric and gynecologic questions, the use of claims data for abortion and contraception research poses a number of challenges. In this update on the state of the science in identifying abortion in claims data, we review claims data generally, describe commonly used claims data sources, and detail specific reasons why abortion may be underestimated in claims even when employing best practices.

When facts become feelings.

I have long maintained that equipoise between empathy and the rational, decisive nature of obstetric care is central to good doctoring. I had exacting standards for how to communicate facts with feeling while shielding my own. Then, after experiencing my own obstetric emergency and preterm birth, this changed.

Health services provided at the time of abortion in the US: a scoping review of the qualitative and quantitative evidence.

Objectives: While it is well documented that abortion access is associated with improved health, pregnancy-related, and socioeconomic outcomes, the association between abortion access and other reproductive health outcomes is less well described. Abortion-providing clinics also offer preventative reproductive health services. We conducted a scoping review to ascertain the extent to which preventive reproductive healthcare services (contraception, sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment, cervical cancer screening) are affected by abortion access in the United States.