Prior knowledge and experience with self-managed abortion among people seeking abortion care in US Midwestern states.

Objectives: This study seeks to understand what methods people use and/or have heard of others using for self-managed abortion (SMA) prior to coming to a health facility for abortion care.

Study Design: We collected survey data on sociodemographics, gestational stage, and SMA awareness and methods from patients seeking care in 17 abortion facilities in Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Illinois from April 2020 to April 2022. We used descriptive statistics to examine the proportion of participants who had attempted SMA and, separately, who had heard of people attempting SMA.

State of Confusion: Ohio's Restrictive Abortion Landscape and the Production of Uncertainty in Reproductive Health Care.

This study examines an underexplored source of medical uncertainty: the political context of care. Since 2011, Ohio has passed over 16 abortion-restrictive laws. We know little about how this legislation affects reproductive health care outside of abortion clinics.

Abortion-Related Laws and Concurrent Patterns in Abortion Incidence in Indiana, 2010-2019.

To analyze abortion incidence in Indiana concurrent with changes in abortion-related laws. Using publicly available data, we created a timeline of abortion-related laws in Indiana, calculated abortion rates by geography, and described changes in abortion occurrence coincident with changes in abortion-related laws between 2010 and 2019. Between 2010 and 2019, Indiana's legislature passed 14 abortion-restricting laws, and 4 of 10 abortion-providing clinics closed.

Unlimited Discretion: How Unchecked Bureaucratic Discretion Can Threaten Abortion Availability.

Previous research has assessed the impact of state regulations on abortion clinics and patients, but how bureaucrats implement them is less understood and is increasingly important as states arbitrate abortion regulation. The authors conducted a case study of how bureaucrats use discretion to implement state regulations on abortion, focusing on two abortion facilities in southwest Ohio from 2010 to 2022. Ohio abortion facilities are required to obtain a written transfer agreement, despite it offering no demonstrable health or safety benefits.

The double-edged sword of abortion regulations: Decreasing training opportunities while increasing knowledge requirements.

Purpose: The authors explore how abortion regulations in Ohio, an abortion-restrictive state in the USA, impact obstetrician-gynecologists' (OB/GYNs) training in reproductive healthcare and describe what OB/GYNs believe to be the broader impact of Ohio's regulations on skill-building, skills maintenance, and professional retention of reproductive healthcare providers in the state. Authors discuss how their findings foreshadow abortion training limitations in Ohio and other abortion-restrictive states now that abortion regulations have returned to the states.

Methods: The authors conducted four semi-structured focus groups and five in-depth interviews between April 2019 and March 2020.