UW Collaborative for Reproductive Equity funding renewed for three years

CORE colleagues meet and discuss around a table in a room with houseplants and colorful books on a bookcase. Photo by Rob Garza / UW Department of Ob-Gyn

At a time with increasing and ever-changing barriers to reproductive health, understanding how policies affect patient and provider experiences with reproductive health care is more critical than ever. Established in 2018 with a $573,142 grant from a family foundation, the UW Collaborative for Reproductive Equity (CORE) is a multidisciplinary research collective that brings faculty and trainees from across the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus—as well as from other universities in Wisconsin—together to investigate the barriers and supports to reproductive autonomy in the state. In 2026, CORE received a renewal grant that provides $5.5 million to support research for the next three years, including $1.7 million in the first year.

CORE’s founding goal was to conduct research and share evidence focusing on Wisconsinites’ access to abortion and contraception, aiming to inform policies and programs that support reproductive autonomy for everyone in the state. When the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned federal abortion protections, CORE’s work became even more urgent. 

“Wisconsin is still one of the most highly restricted states in the country, especially for medication abortion,” says CORE Director Jenny Higgins, PhD, MPH. “We’re doing the same work, our focus hasn’t really changed, but I think what we’re doing is better appreciated by the general public.”

Leaders in actionable reproductive health research

Research from CORE in recent years has generated quantitative and qualitative data on the real-life impacts of Wisconsin’s abortion and contraception policies on patients, providers, families, and communities, as well as on the reproductive health needs and preferences of various communities. 

In the previous grant cycle of 2023-2026, CORE researchers published 60 peer-reviewed publications. Beyond their academic work, CORE leaders intentionally translate their research into formats that can be used by reproductive health stakeholders. CORE’s briefs, infographics, and reports are in high demand from policymakers, advocates, professional associations, healthcare providers, public health departments, and more.

“We’re using our superpowers as researchers. We can make sense of information and research, we can identify what’s evidence-based and what’s not, and we make it easy to use,” says CORE Associate Director Amy Williamson, MPP. “We don’t want to make people work to get at the evidence. That's what we do—we sift and we winnow, and we identify what’s the current best evidence on a topic and make it available to our partners and colleagues.”

A robust research network

CORE boasts a broad, interdisciplinary network of investigators who bring a variety of expertise to their abortion and contraception research. “This team makes our work so much more diverse,” Dr. Higgins says. “We’re not just focused on abortion or contraception service delivery. We have policy analysis, economic analysis, and other ways of looking at the issues that are enabled by having this multidisciplinary group of investigators.”

This round of funding will support five new CORE research projects, led by investigators from across the UW–Madison campus:

  • Navigating care under exclusion: Abortion and contraception trajectories of Latino communities in Wisconsin – PI Celina Doria, PhD, MSW; UW–Madison School of Social Work
  • From preference to practice: Mapping the path to Black-centered abortion care – PI Tiffany Green, PhD; UW School of Medicine and Public Health Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Population Health Sciences
  • “I don’t feel like I have access to better options”: Understanding how to better meet Wisconsinites’ contraceptive needs – PI Leigh Senderowicz, ScD, MPH; Departments of Gender and Women’s Studies and Obstetrics and Gynecology
  • Wisconsin Abortion Consideration and Seeking Trajectories Study – PI Jane Seymour, PhD; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
  • Primary care and family medicine providers: critical partners in expanding abortion access – PI Kelly Ward, PhD; Departments of Gender and Women’s Studies and Sociology

Understanding CORE’s impact, today and tomorrow

As CORE becomes an increasingly trusted and sought-after resource for reproductive health research, Dr. Higgins measures their impact by their responsiveness to community needs. “When we get a call from a journalist, a legislator, or a community organization asking, can you help me understand this or can you get me information on that, I feel like we’re exactly where we want to be,” Dr. Higgins says. “We are known to people, we are known to be of service to partners, and people understand our lane of providing high-quality evidence about reproductive health policies.”

In addition to the new projects funded in this cycle, CORE will focus on helping as many stakeholders as possible connect to the resources already available. “Part of what I’m excited about in the next few years is using a lot of the data we have on hand to be of service to partners,” Dr. Higgins says. “If, in five years, I could see that CORE’s evidence was helpful in rolling back harmful restrictions and other ways abortion and contraception are thwarted, I would feel like we’ve really made a difference.”

Published July 2026