Research Project
Access and Ideology: Women's Experiences Negotiating Birth Control
Faculty Mentor
Dr. Abigail Adams
What is your research?
The purpose of this study is to engage women's experiences around contraceptive knowledge and use and the ways in which they strategize to control their reproduction. The study will utilize qualitative research and data to better understand the human experience around contraception and the experiences of women when they use pharmaceutical intervention to control their reproduction. The outcome of this study will be a list of recommendations for policy makers, local organizations and medical resources to better provide care.
Why is it important?
Reproductive rights and birth control have been at the forefront of national debates for the last several years, which has in turn heavily influenced the level of access for women and the perception of contraception for the public. Being able to negotiate and access birth control not only affects the women in question who are trying to control their reproduction but the family's members and children whose dependents are and relying on the women to take care of them. The mother, if forced to have another child may not be able to adequately take care of all of them, and be forced into a cycle of disadvantage experienced (Dehlendorf, 2010, 214 220). Limiting contraception access and the drastic pull back on reproductive rights, only makes it more difficult for those demographics of women who already experience limited access to contraception, such as those from lower economic classes and minority ethnic groups. The etiology of this problem lies within broken and inadequate policies/ political action around reproductive health care access for all. The goal of this progject is to enhance the discourse and education of reproductive rights, and contraception.
