Understanding who reports abortions and who doesn't after the Dobbs decision
Leveraging Medical Records to Understand the Underreporting of Abortion Before and After Dobbs
This project compares people's medical records with their survey answers to find how often abortions are not reported before and after the Dobbs ruling.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R21 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of California Los Angeles NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Los Angeles, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11196077 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If you participate, researchers will link your medical records with national survey answers to compare whether abortions recorded in health care files were reported in surveys. They will examine patterns in reporting before and after the U.S. Supreme Court's Dobbs decision to see if reporting changed. Using those comparisons, researchers will develop methods to produce better national and subgroup estimates of how common abortion is. The aim is to make survey-based counts more accurate so future research and policy reflect people's real experiences.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: People of reproductive age whose abortion care appears in linked medical records and who have completed the relevant national surveys are the ideal candidates.
Not a fit: People without linked medical records or survey data, or those outside the included health systems or states, are unlikely to directly benefit.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: This work could produce more accurate counts of abortions and better information for policymakers, health providers, and researchers about the consequences of Dobbs.
How similar studies have performed: Previous research has shown abortion is often underreported and record-linkage methods have been used before, but applying these methods specifically to measure changes after Dobbs is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
Los Angeles, United States
- University of California Los Angeles — Los Angeles, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Bailey, Martha Jane — University of California Los Angeles
- Study coordinator: Bailey, Martha Jane
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.