Abortion referral-making in the United States: findings and recommendations from the abortion referrals learning community.

In recent years, reproductive health researchers and practitioners have increased their focus on abortion referrals as an overlooked component of access. March 2019 proposed changes to the regulation of publicly funded family planning services that severely restrict abortion referrals have heightened public attention. In October 2017, Provide, Inc. convened researchers and practitioners to assess our knowledge of abortion referral and make recommendations for future research. We found that existing literature on abortion referral is limited and may overlook important outcomes as well as variations in patient experiences by age, race, income, and other attributes. Recommendations include more robust attention to patient experiences and research that assesses a broad range of referral-making practices and outcomes, with specific attention to vulnerable populations and to referral quality and the distinction between appropriate and inappropriate referral.
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