From Research to Policy Change: Addressing Disparities Among Low-Income Women Seeking Abortion in Oregon

Women seeking abortion frequently encounter barriers that may be socioeconomic, logistical, or social. Of particular concern for policy development, women of lower socioeconomic status are more affected by these barriers (Jones and Weitz 2009). The focus of this article is to describe the process by which applied medical anthropology research was transformed into a joint medical anthropology/public health effort to reduce these barriers. The desired outcome was to create policy change to improve reproductive health care access for low-income women in Oregon. Working in the traditions of applied and critical medical anthropology to improve access to reproductive health care, we sought to utilize data to effect policy improvements and to offer women a tool to advocate on their own behalf.