Jacobs in the News

Julia Strasser provided an invited perspective on a new study that involved a survey of pregnant adults who sought abortions in Ohio. “This study supports the conclusion that a 6-week [abortion] ban is, in fact, a near-total ban,” she explained.

Susan Wood spoke with Robin Young about the potential for an over-the-counter progestin-only pill to increase contraceptive options. She explained the difference between progestin-only pills and progestin-estrogen combination pills and why the pills should be sold without age restrictions.

Susan Wood explained that when FDA first considered emergency contraceptive Plan B in the 1990s, its mechanism for preventing pregnancy wasn’t totally clear. Now that we know it blocks ovulation, she suggests FDA update the language on its website to be clear, given growing false claims that emergency contraception is the same as abortion.

Susan Wood applauded the prospect of an over-the-counter birth control pill and expressed a hope that FDA would approve the application promptly. She also commented, “This is not a substitute for access to abortion care in the U.S., but will provide one more tool for the toolbox for preventing unintended pregnancies and more options for family planning.”

Susan Wood spoke to Ahmed Aboulenein about prospects for medication abortion drugs becoming available over the counter: “I personally don’t see it happening in the next couple of years.”

“Abortion providers face threats to their physical safety as well as their livelihoods. And we know that those threats have increased in recent years, even just between 2019 and 2020,” Julia Strasser told Janet Nguyen about the likely impacts of the Supreme Court decision overturning the constitutional right to an abortion.

The loss of abortion rights in several states will result in fewer abortion providers in the workforce, Julia Strasser told Erin Billups, and that in turn will results in fewer providers able to train the next generation of abortion providers. 

Susan Wood explained that in order for the label of the emergency contraceptive Plan B to be updated, the manufacturer must request a label change from FDA. She told Sarah Varney a label update would be straightforward given existing human data about the drug’s mechanism of action.

Julia Strasser provided an invited perspective on a new study that surveyed people who were considering abortions in 2017 and 2018. She explained that the findings “suggests that there will be significant implications of greater travel distance to abortion providers — a problem that will substantially escalate as states ban or restrict abortion in the coming months and travel distances increase.”