“Post-Roe” Abortion Policy Context Heightens the Imperative for Multilevel, Comprehensive, Integrated Health Education
Open Access
- 29 September 2022
- journal article
- editorial
- Published by SAGE Publications in Health Education & Behavior
- Vol. 49 (6), 913-918
- https://doi.org/10.1177/10901981221125399
Abstract
The exceptionalism of abortion in public health education, due to social stigma, politicization, and lack of training, contributes to misinformation, policies unjustified by rigorous science, lack of access to person-centered health care, and systemic pregnancy-related inequities. Now that abortion access has vanished for large portions of the United States, following the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (JWHO), health educators must work to eliminate abortion-related silos, destigmatize abortion education, and bring comprehensive sexual and reproductive health information and evidence to the many audiences that will require it. We discuss consequences of abortion exceptionalism in health education for the public, health care providers, pregnant people, and health professionals in training-and opportunities to better and more accessibly provide sexual and reproductive health education to these audiences.Keywords
Funding Information
- anonymous foundation (5255.02)
- A.N. (K12 GM000680/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States)
This publication has 31 references indexed in Scilit:
- Side Effects, Physical Health Consequences, and Mortality Associated with Abortion and Birth after an Unwanted PregnancyWomen's Health Issues, 2015
- Student perceptions of reproductive health education in US medical schools: a qualitative analysis of students taking family planning electivesMedical Education Online, 2015
- Committee Opinion No. 612Obstetrics & Gynecology, 2014
- Availability and characteristics of abortion training in US ob-gyn residency programs: a national surveyContraception, 2014
- The GEMMA Seminar: a graduate public health course on Global Elimination of Maternal Mortality from AbortionContraception, 2013
- Physicians, abortion provision and the legitimacy paradoxContraception, 2012
- Dynamics of stigma in abortion work: Findings from a pilot study of the Providers Share WorkshopSocial Science & Medicine (1982), 2011
- Abstinence-Only Education and Teen Pregnancy Rates: Why We Need Comprehensive Sex Education in the U.SPLOS ONE, 2011
- Recommendations for intrauterine contraception: a randomized trial of the effects of patients' race/ethnicity and socioeconomic statusAmerican Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2010
- Sexuality education policies and sexually transmitted disease rates in the United States of AmericaInternational Journal of STD & AIDS, 2010