"Post-Roe" Abortion Policy Context Heightens the Imperative for Multilevel, Comprehensive, Integrated Health Education

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Whitney Rice, Emory University; Subasri Narasimhan, Emory University; Anna Newton-Levinson, Emory University; Johanna Pringle, Emory University; Sara Redd, Emory University; Dabney Evans, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2022-09-29
• Publisher: SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2022 Society for Public Health Education
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/10901981221125399
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: HEALTH EDUCATION & BEHAVIOR
• Volume: 49
• Issue: 6
• Start Page: 913
• End Page: 918
• Grant/Funding Information: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was made possible through the support of Collaborative for Gender + Reproductive Equity, a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. A.N. was supported by a grant from K12 GM000680/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States.
• Keywords: STIGMA; BIRTH; comprehensive health education; MORTALITY; UNITED-STATES; Public, Environmental & Occupational Health; PROVIDER BIAS; OUTCOMES; Science & Technology; pregnancy; health care disparities; family planning; evidence-based practice; stigma; Life Sciences & Biomedicine
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Public Health

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.