Combing through research articles and new reports shed light on how losing abortion access at a national level was only the culmination of a series of failings in education access and pregnancy protections that spanned the past several decades. Yes, the attack on abortion access had immediate consequences for currently pregnant and at-risk women and families, and opened doors to further restrictions on information access. But furthermore, the crisis of the Roe vs. Wade overturn had aggravated the longstanding problem of ineffective reproductive education in the United States. American citizens lacked access to publicly available education on reproductive health. Although increasing access to safe abortion would provide an immediate solution to the effects of the recent abortion ban, educating individuals extensively about reproductive health, especially through community-led efforts, would provide long term societal benefits such as increasing financial stability, reducing unplanned pregnancies and STDs, and combating social and racial disparities in health care accessibility. 

Key Findings

Since the overturn of Roe v. Wade,

• 13 states and counting have ended nearly all abortion services

• 400% increase in patients seeking out-of-state care

• 5 fold increase in requests to abortion funds for financial help with gas and airfare for out-of-state abortions

• 3000% surge in sales for emergency contraceptives

This proved to be dire for women seeking abortions, as

“Women who are denied requested abortions are more likely to die or experience serious complications, more likely to experience poor physical health for years after the pregnancy, and more likely to stay with abusive partners and suffer anxiety and loss of self-esteem.” -UCSF, 2020

The current status of reproductive health education also didn’t seem promising.

“Between 2015–2019, only half of adolescents reported receiving sex education that met the minimum standard articulated in Healthy People 2030.” -Guttmacher Institute, 2022

“As restrictions on abortion access increase, enabling young people to prevent unwanted pregnancies through comprehensive sex education will become even more important in preventing teen pregnancy and STIs.” -Vox, 2022

However, one discovery shed light on what might be the most effective approach to address this lack of education, eventually evolving into our ultimate solution.

“Adolescents may use a variety of media sources to fill in gaps from sexuality education, and there is a growing interest among adolescents to access sexual health information online that is written in language they can understand.”

-The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2020