Understanding People’s Experiences with Remote Provision of Medication Abortion

Purpose

Remote provision of medication abortion – a safe and effective method of abortion care – rapidly expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic and has continued to grow in the wake of the Dobbs decision and the introduction of shield laws. Today, 20% of all abortions in the US are provided remotely via a wide range of service delivery structures.

In order to deepen our understanding of people’s experiences with this model of care in the current context and ensure that their experiences are centered, the Society of Family Planning is offering the Understanding people’s experiences with remote provision of medication abortion funding opportunity. The purpose of this funding opportunity is to generate evidence that can be used to support the provision and delivery of person-centered abortion care.

Research Focus

We invite research proposals focused on understanding the experiences of people who have accessed medication abortion remotely in the current healthcare landscape; for purposes of this funding opportunity, this is defined as the remote dispensing of mifepristone and/or misoprostol by a health professional functioning within their licensed scope of practice.

Proposals are welcome to explore questions related but not limited to:

• How do people’s experiences align with their expectations, needs, preferences, and/or values?
• How does social location shape people’s experiences, with specific attention to racial and ethnic identity?
• How does cost shape people’s experiences?
• How do state and/or federal policies shape people’s experiences?
• How do different service delivery modalities shape people’s experiences?

Central to this funding opportunity is the understanding that access to abortion is not equitable and people’s social locations (eg, race, ethnicity, religion, social class, gender, age, health, and geography) shape their abortion experiences. As such, proposed research must specifically define and justify the population the research is focused on and bring attention to how social location shapes that population’s experience with abortion. Further, given the range of ways in which medication abortion can be delivered remotely (eg, synchronous or asynchronous communication, hybrid or direct-to-patient models, level of clinician interaction, process for receiving medications, management of follow up care), proposals must bring specificity to the service delivery structure(s) included in their research. Finally, cost of care and relevant state and/or federal policies must be explicitly addressed even if not the focus of the proposal.

Proposed research must be positioned to produce empirical evidence with a clear, concrete, and strategic path to changes in clinical practice, health service delivery, and/or other structures that support person-centered abortion care. Teams must be attentive to the Society’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Vision Statement throughout the research process. If proposed research uses data related to race and racism, projects must name and analyze the pathways through which structural racism affects people’s care experiences and be attentive to recommendations00223-3/fulltext) for working with these data.

Funds and Duration

We invite proposals for research studies with budgets up to $500,000 that can be completed within 24 months of award. Please note that we seek to fund studies with a range of budgets within the budget maximum: concretely, we anticipate supporting up to three projects with larger budgets (eg, up to $500,000) and up to six projects with smaller budgets (eg, up to $100,000), such as pilot studies, secondary data analysis, or qualitative studies.

Funding is also available to cover processing fees associated with two open- access publications, provided the work is published within two years of grant completion. During the award period, the Society will provide grantees with technical assistance around data security and risk mitigation.

Eligibility

_You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website._

• Grants are limited, without exception, to tax-exempt organizations.
  • Grants will be made to organizations on behalf of a named principal investigator (PI).
  • Proof of the agency/institution’s tax-exempt status determination letter must be included.
• Applicants do not need to be members of the Society.
• Funding is limited to projects focused on the US.

Ineligibility

• Please note that projects exploring remote provision of medication abortion from the perspective of hypothetical abortion seekers, clinicians, or institutions will not be supported via this funding opportunity.
• Further, due to the evidence already in hand, studies on safety and efficacy will not be supported.