Jacques, Higgins co-author article in Wisconsin Medical Journal

Laura Jacques, MD, assistant professor in the UW Ob-Gyn Division of Academic Specialists in Ob-Gyn, and Jenny Higgins, PhD, MPH, director of the UW Collaborative for Reproductive Equity and Division of Reproductive and Population Health, are co-authors on a new study in the Wisconsin Medical Journal. Taryn Valley, MA, an MD-PhD student in the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, is lead author on the study.

In “‘The Biggest Problem With Access’: Provider Reports of the Effects of Wisconsin 2011 Act 217 Medication Abortion Legislation”, authors interviewed abortion care providers about how a Wisconsin law banning telemedicine for medication abortion affected abortion provision:

“Providers interviewed universally reported that Act 217 negatively affected abortion care, with the same-physician requirement especially increasing risk to patients and demoralizing providers. Interviewees emphasized the lack of medical need for this legislation and explained that Act 217 and the previously enacted 24-hour waiting period worked synergistically to decrease access to medication abortion, disproportionately affecting rural and low-income Wisconsinites. Finally, providers felt Wisconsin’s legislative ban on telemedicine medication abortion should be lifted." 

Read the whole study here!