Dr. Kate Coleman-Minahan’s collaborative research project, “Medication abortion among young people: A community-based participatory research study in four states”, has received substantial support from the Society of Family Planning Research Fund (SFPRF).
Despite significant expansion in use of medication abortion in the last decade, barriers to access are particularly challenging for young people ages 13 to 22. Such barriers include later discovery of pregnancy, substantial desire for privacy, and delays introduced by parental involvement requirements.
This project will use qualitative interviews with young people who considered or obtained abortion in Colorado, Texas, Illinois, and California to assess access to and use of medication abortion among young people while especially identifying unique needs of marginalized groups. One goal is to create “Best Practices” guidelines for youth-serving organizations and to produce policy briefs and publications to inform legislation and legal challenges to parental involvement requirements.
This project is as an academic-community partnership with researchers rom the University of Colorado, College of Nursing, the University of California San Francisco, and four community partners: the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights, Jane’s Due Process, Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health, and California Latinas for Reproductive Justice.
Some recent publications by Dr. Coleman-Minahan:
Coleman‐Minahan, K., Jean Stevenson, A., Obront, E., & Hays, S. (2020). Adolescents obtaining abortion without parental consent: their reasons and experiences of social support. Perspectives on sexual and reproductive health, 52(1), 15-22. Link here.
Coleman-Minahan, K., Stevenson, A. J., Obront, E., & Hays, S. (2019). Young women’s experiences obtaining judicial bypass for abortion in Texas. Journal of Adolescent Health, 64(1), 20-25. Link here.
Potter, J. E., Stevenson, A. J., Coleman-Minahan, K., Hopkins, K., White, K., Baum, S. E., & Grossman, D. (2019). Challenging unintended pregnancy as an indicator of reproductive autonomy. Contraception, 100(1), 1-4. Link here.