Contraception
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Potentially Wide-Ranging Effects of Abortion Bans on Women’s Health and Safety
In June 2022, the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned the constitutional right to abortion care. Data are not yet available on whether medical schools and residency programs in abortion-ban states will teach students about abortion or provide any opportunities for hands-on experience with abortion care. Or they could be taught abortion procedures without actual human patients. Media reports indicate that medical students are using papayas in place of a cervix to learn the procedure in some cities.
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Premenstrual Anxiety, Mood Swings Are Common Among Women Worldwide
New research shows that women worldwide experience unpleasant premenstrual symtoms, including food cravings (85%) and mood swings or anxiety (64%). Other reported symptoms included fatigue, irritability, bloating, and breast tenderness.
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Telehealth for Contraception Works, Increasing Access for Patients
Contraceptive care providers and staff wish to sustain telehealth long past the COVID-19 pandemic era in which telehealth was more widely used, according to a recent study of telehealth in Illinois.
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FDA’s Change to Emergency Contraception Labeling Is Good News for Women
In a move that expands access to contraception, the FDA announced that it was changing packaging labels for Plan B, the emergency contraceptive pill that is available over the counter. The box no longer will carry the baseless claim that the pill may prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the womb.
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Social Media Trends Are Moving Against Contraception Access
Reproductive health advocates and providers should be aware of a disturbing social media trend that appears to be moving in the same direction as the early anti-Roe efforts in the 1980s. Decades of attacks on abortion changed enough people’s opinions on abortion to lay the groundwork for the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision.
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Fully Funded Access to Contraception Can Change an Entire Population’s Lives
The results of Colorado’s contraception expansion experiment are in, showing a dramatic improvement in women’s lives during the period in which Title X programs were fully funded through a grant. The Colorado Family Planning Initiative profoundly affected adolescent girls and young adults, resulting in a 6% to 12% increase in women obtaining their college degrees compared to earlier cohorts that did not benefit from the expanded contraception program, according to study results.
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More Research Needed on Link Between Hormonal Contraceptives and Stress
Reproductive health clinicians and their patients need more information about how hormonal contraceptives may affect people’s mood changes and depression, according to the authors of a recent paper.
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Legality and Chilling Effect of Abortion Care in Dobbs Era
In this Q&A about how state abortion bans are affecting women with both planned and unplanned pregnancies, Contraceptive Technology Update addresses some of the legal issues raised by state laws and bans.
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When Lawmakers Make Medical Decisions, Patients and Providers Suffer
Recent suggests a future in which doctors in abortion-ban states will have to ask how much of a threat of death is needed before they can give patients the care needed to prevent their death or serious morbidity.
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Too Many Physicians Lack Accurate Information About Contraception
New research revealed that a significant number of physicians hold erroneous beliefs about how contraceptives work. Many believe emergency contraception causes abortions, and some doctors believe IUDs and other forms of birth control also work as abortifacients, according to a study of Wisconsin physicians’ beliefs about contraception.