Blog Series: SiX Repro’s ICYMI Research Roundup (October/November Edition)

SiX Repro’s ICYMI Research Roundup is a new regular update and short summary of recent sexual and reproductive health fact sheets, toolkits, and journal articles.  We bring you these latest and most relevant insights in the reproductive health, rights, and justice landscape to support state legislators in advancing evidence-based policymaking. These updates cover a wide range of reproductive health, rights, and justice topics, from abortion to contraception to maternal health to assisted reproductive technology and from the intersections of climate change or disability justice or gender affirming care and beyond. We value engagement from our state legislator community and invite you to join us as we explore these latest developments.

Special Highlight:  Bridging the Gap: How SiX Supports U.S. State Legislators in Transforming Research into Policy (Contraception, October 2025):  This commentary is being published as part of the Coalition to Expand Contraceptive Access’ special issue of Contraception, and was written by SiX reproductive rights team members, Melissa Madera,  Rosann Mariappuram, and Fran Linkin,  in collaboration with three legislator-authors, VA Delegate Candi Mundon King, TN Senator Charlane Oliver, and NC Representative Julie von Haefen. This commentary highlights the work that the SiX reproductive rights team does with legislators; gives public health researchers a greater understanding of the importance of their research to the work of policymakers; shares best practices and guidance from legislators about how researchers can make their research more accessible to policymakers; and highlights how policymakers have used research to push back on conservative legislation and push forward proactive progressive contraceptive policies.

New Resources

• Key Details & Emerging Questions from the White House’s IVF Announcement (American Society for Reproductive Medicine)
• Policy Brief: State Actions to Protect Black Maternal Health (Black Maternal Health Federal Policy Foundation and The Century Foundation)
• Issue brief: Reproductive Health and Data Privacy After Roe: Threats and Opportunities for State Action (The Center for Reproductive Rights, If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice, and the National Partnership for Women & Families): This resource breaks down the legal landscape surrounding key health data issues and outlines policy recommendations to address reproductive privacy concerns. It is essential that states expand privacy protections to safeguard reproductive health care access and fight back against the weaponization of sensitive health information. States can continue to protect access by passing, issuing, and/or implementing:
  • Strong shield law statutes, regulations, and/or executive orders that prohibit entities in the state from cooperating with out-of-state investigations or proceedings for providing, securing, receiving, inquiring about, or assisting in reproductive health services.
  • Repeals of abortion bans and restrictions still on the books.
  • Broad health privacy laws that limit both the collection and disclosure of reproductive health information, building upon the 2024 Privacy Rule.
  • Laws that prohibit virtual tracking, known as a “geofence,” around health care facilities.
  • Laws governing health information systems, requiring them to develop technological capabilities that restrict the disclosure of reproductive health data.

• Expanding Medication Abortion on College Campuses: An Advocates Guide (CUNY School of Public Health Sexual and Reproductive Justice Hub)
• Policy Analysis: The War on Mifepristone: How Junk Science and False Narratives Threaten US Abortion Access (The Guttmacher Institute) 
• Policy Analysis: Act on the Evidence: Policy Solutions to Protect and Advance Abortion and Contraception Access in the United States (The Guttmacher Institute) 
• State Policy Action Lab: Reproductive Justice and Health Equity  (Institute for Women’s Policy Research)
• Policy Brief: Latina Institute’s 2025 Medicaid policy brief (Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice)
• The National Health Law Program (NHeLP) recently published a new set of materials about Medicaid presumptive eligibility (PE) and abortion access. New materials include:
  • An updated FAQ on PE and abortion access that mostly focuses on pregnancy PE.
  • A policy chart that looks at the 20 states that provide Medicaid abortion coverage and whether or not they have pregnancy PE, how they do or do not define ambulatory prenatal care, and how the state defines a qualified provider.
  • A high level fact sheet on pregnancy PE.

• Issue Brief: STATE MOMNIBUS SCAN: Charting the Future of Maternal Health (National Partnership for Women & Families)

In The News: 

• Jessica Bartlett with The Boston Globe published a 3-part investigative series on the high costs of IVF in America.
  • First article: Parking lot drug exchanges. A $300,000 baby. In Massachusetts, fertility coverage shortfalls cost patients dearly.
  • Second Article: Medication madness, increasing involvement of private equity — why IVF costs so much, and how it may get worse
  • Third Article: If Massachusetts is so progressive, why couldn’t the first US IVF baby be born here?

• Banning abortion is a hallmark of authoritarian regimes (The Conversation)
• The E.P.A. Followed Up on an Unusual Request About Abortion Pills (The New York Times)
• “No Separation Between Church and State”: Inside a Texas Church’s Training Academy for Christians Running for Office (ProPublica)
• “Ticking Time Bomb”: A Pregnant Mother Kept Getting Sicker. She Died After She Couldn’t Get an Abortion in Texas. (ProPublica)
• Republicans Are Selling “Ethical IVF.” It’s a Scam. (Slate)
• IVF Users Face Uncertain Legal Landscape (State Court Report)

Blog Posts 

• Flock Safety and Texas Sheriff Claimed License Plate Search Was for a Missing Person. It Was an Abortion Investigation. (Electronic Frontier Foundation, October 2025): New documents and court records obtained by EFF show that Texas deputies queried Flock Safety’s surveillance data in an abortion investigation, contradicting the narrative promoted by the company and the Johnson County Sheriff that she was “being searched for as a missing person,” and that “it was about her safety.” EFF outlines the fundamental danger of allowing companies like Flock Safety to build massive, interconnected surveillance networks that can be searched across state lines with minimal oversight.

• Americans Oppose Criminalizing Abortion. Too Many Policymakers Aren’t Listening. (Ms. Magazine, October 2025): The Abortion Attitudes Project has been studying public opinion about abortion for approximately eight years, including whether people believe those involved in abortions—pregnant people, healthcare providers and people helping abortion seekers—should be punished if abortion is made illegal. Across various national surveys Abortion Attitudes Project researchers conducted before and after Dobbs, they have consistently found that most people do not endorse harsh penalties for pregnant people or healthcare providers.  However, their findings are in sharp contrast to today’s legal landscape– since Dobbs several states have introduced or enacted laws that criminalize abortion in sweeping and unprecedented ways.

Fact Sheets

• The Share Of Mothers Who Work Is Shrinking – And Black Mothers Face The Steepest Declines (National Partnership for Women & Families, October 2025): New analysis from the National Partnership for Women & Families and The 75 Million Project examines trends in labor force participation rates of mothers with young children by race in recent years. Examining 12-month rolling averages, we find the steepest declines in labor force participation, both since January 2025 and since December 2023 (when this metric peaked), have been borne by Black mothers.  Today’s economic trends for mothers of young children – and for Black mothers in particular – is likely a convergence of multiple factors. Paid leave, affordable child care, protections from discrimination, solutions for occupational segregation and the gender wage gap, building worker power, and more are proven tools to improve women’s experience and participation in the labor force. Women deserve real choices – instead of accepting a status quo that requires impossible compromise, we must build an economy that allows all women to pursue fulfilling, secure lives.

Research Briefs 

• Science Unpacked–  False serious adverse events claims with medication abortion (Society of Family Planning, October 2025): Science Unpacked is a new series from Society of Family Planning that unpacks the science behind studies, theories, or narratives that have achieved prominence in public discourse, underscoring the expertise, humility, and rigor required for research to meet the threshold of sound science. This effort also aims to elevate the importance of legitimate scientific exchange, demonstrate fidelity to evidence, and promote public trust in the scientific process.” The first brief focuses on a junk science report from Ethics and Public Policy Center, a conservative Washington, DC based think tank and advocacy group,claiming a high adverse event rate for mifepristone.

Research Reports

• Whose Abortion Is It? The Harms of State-Mandated Parental Notification for Abortion and Judicial Bypass in the United States (Human Rights Watch and If/When/How, October 2025):  This report documents how state-mandated parental notification laws in six U.S. states threaten young people’s health and safety, and undermine their human rights.  Researchers interviewed 62 healthcare providers, attorneys experienced in representing youth in judicial bypass cases, people working for abortion funds, advocates, and public health researchers across six states–  Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Iowa, Montana, and New Hampshire. They found that state-mandated parental notification laws have harmful impacts on youth, and grant parents and judges veto power over a young person’s abortion decision. Read the full 89 page report here.

Journal Articles

• Constructing criminality: a thematic analysis of national news media reporting on self-managed abortion criminalisation in the United States  (Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, October 2025): Having an abortion at home without a healthcare provider (also known as self-managed abortion or SMA) is common in the United States. Although SMA is legal in nearly every state, the number of people who have been arrested for alleged SMA has continued to grow in recent years. Reproductive justice advocates have identified media coverage as a major influence on how the public views people facing criminal proceedings after SMA; however, researchers have not yet examined this. Researchers analysed 41 news articles on SMA criminalisation published between 2000-2023 by the five most popular national newspapers in the United States. Their results show that journalists often 1) portrayed the fetus as a victim who was harmed by the criminalised person, 2) used stories about the criminalised person’s past to portray them as immoral, and 3) repeated police statements that assumed the criminalised person was guilty. These findings  add further evidence to reproductive justice advocates’ demands for journalists to use better practices when reporting on SMA criminalisation.

• “I couldn’t practice in a place where my patients couldn’t get the care they need”: a qualitative exploration of residency decision-making among Southern medical students interested in providing gender-affirming care (International Journal of Transgender Health, October 2025): Legislative efforts to restrict healthcare access for transgender individuals have increased across the United States recently. Limited research has explored how anti-transgender state legislation impacts where medical students wish to attend residency and practice medicine in the future. Researchers conducted in-depth interviews with Southern medical students who want to provide abortion and/or gender-affirming care, and applied to residency during the 2023 application cycle.  Researchers found that Southern medical students interested in providing gender-affirming care are balancing conflicting priorities between their clinical aspirations, personal responsibilities, and legal and geographical limitations. More transparency regarding gender-affirming care training opportunities in residency can help support medical students make informed decisions.

• How Statewide Contraceptive Access Initiatives Can Advance Sexual and Reproductive Health Equity (Contraception, October 2025): The Coalition to Expand Contraceptive Access and Emory University’s Center for Reproductive Health Research in the Southeast led a collaborative effort to convene statewide contraceptive access initiatives (SCAI) to identify opportunities to meaningfully advance sexual and reproductive health equity (SRHE) in ongoing and future initiatives. This commentary outlines four concrete recommendations derived from this effort: (1) center communities in all phases of the initiative, (2) foster flexibility and responsiveness in initiative activities, (3) align goals with comprehensive measures, and (4) prioritize sustainable approaches. The commentary also explores how these recommendations connect to the principles of SRHE and how implementers, evaluators, funders, and supporters of contraceptive access initiatives can implement them to advance SRHE.

• Nowhere to go: An overview of maternity care access across the U.S․ (Seminars in Perinatology, November 2025):  Over 35 % of U.S. counties are designated as “maternity care deserts,” lacking obstetric clinicians and birthing facilities.  These counties are home to more than 2.3 million reproductive-aged women and account for over 150,000 births annually. Limited access to maternity care is associated with delayed prenatal care, increased preterm birth rates, and higher maternal mortality, and disproportionately affects Medicaid recipients and communities of color. The authors argue that addressing this crisis requires multifaceted policy solutions, and that action is needed to close persistent gaps in maternity care access and ensure equitable, high-quality care for all birthing people. They urge policymakers, clinicians, and advocates to implement evidence-based solutions to mitigate disparities and improve maternal and infant health outcomes across the U.S.

• Intimate partner violence and delays in obtaining contraception among young people in California and Texas (Contraception, December 2025):  Experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) can negatively impact young people’s reproductive autonomy, including making it more challenging to get contraception. This study examined the association between IPV and delays in obtaining contraception in a sample of young women from California and Texas. Researchers found that experiencing IPV was associated with delays in obtaining contraception and that in states with abortion bans and high maternal mortality timely access to contraception is critical. The authors assert that colleges and other organizations that serve young adults with a high prevalence of IPV should provide easily accessible sexual and reproductive health (SRH) counseling and contraceptive services, and that providers offering SRH care may consider implementing universal trauma-informed IPV screening.

Podcasts

• The Current Anti-Abortion Extremist Agenda (the Population Institute, rePROs Fight Back, October 2025): Anti-abortion extremists are hard at work attacking access through the courts, policy, clinic harassment, and more. Simultaneously, the Trump administration’s chaos—including RFK Jr.’s harmful actions as head of HHS—are continuing to disassemble comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights, brick-by-brick. In this podcast episode, Mini Timmaraju, President and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All, talks about how anti-abortion extremists are endlessly and strategically beelining for abortion and contraception.

Webinars 

• Conscientious Objection in the U.S. (Global Justice Center):
  • Webinar 1 – focused on the global phenomena of conscientious objection as a mounting barrier to abortion care and the potential use of international human rights norms and standards to promote effective regulation of the practice. This webinar was streamed on YouTube and a recording can be found here.
  • Webinar 2 – focused on the scope and impact of unchecked refusals of care based on conscience, religion or belief and strategies of resistance to provide medically indicated care across the country. This webinar was streamed on YouTube, and a recording can be found here.
  • Webinar 3 – this upcoming 3rd webinar will focus on abortion provision and support and pregnancy decision making as an expression of individuals’ conscience, religion or belief. This webinar will be held on Tuesday, December 9, 10:00 AM ET. You can register here

• Realizing the Promise of State Reproductive Freedom Amendments (UCLA Center on Reproductive Health, Law, and Policy, November 2025): Since Dobbs, ten states have ratified constitutional amendments codifying the right to abortion and reproductive rights more broadly. Join CRHLP experts in conversation with lawyers on the frontlines of litigation and ballot campaigns in Ohio, Michigan, and Missouri to learn about these new constitutional guarantees and what it takes to make their promise real.

We welcome your feedback on content and format. Are you a state legislator and have questions? You can reach out to Melissa Madera, Senior Associate of Research and Education, Reproductive Rights, at melissa@stateinnovation.org.  If you’re a researcher or partner and want us to highlight your research, send materials to melissa@stateinnovation.org.