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Medication Abortion: Current State and Changing Information on University Student Health Center Websites
Sepideh Modrek1,2, Anagha Kulkarni3, Carrie Holschuh4
1Health Equity Institute, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California, USA.
Background:
The reversal of the federal right to abortion through the 2022 US Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization is changing the landscape for medication abortion access. Several states with supportive abortion laws are expanding access to medication abortion by mandating that university Student Health Centers (SHCs) provide this service. Meanwhile, other states are limiting even the information that medical providers can give to patients. In this environment, we document changing information on medication abortion on university SHC websites.
Methods:
We conducted thematic content analysis for medication abortion-related information on 549 SHC websites at 4-year bachelor's degree granting public universities/colleges across the United States. We examined information on medication abortion at four timepoints: March 2022, August 2022, February 2023, and February 2024 using computer-assisted software.
Results:
Only 1% of the SHC websites detailed information on access to medication abortion in March 2022. By February 2024, 7.5% of SHC websites provided some information on how to access medication abortion. This increase was driven primarily by SHC websites of public colleges in California, New York, and Massachusetts, where legislation required SHC to provide medication abortion services on campuses. For universities that provided any information on medication abortion, the websites had varying details on access and responses to changing state-level legislation and federal regulations.
Conclusions:
Overall, university SHC websites are increasingly mentioning medication abortion, though mostly in states with supportive abortion laws. We anticipate more SHCs will post such information on their websites in response to legal requirements set by state legislatures.
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