Social media and limited national standards around sex education means sexual and reproductive health misinformation and disinformation can run rampant. Especially when it comes to birth control, the wrong information can lead to knowledge gaps and limit access to contraceptive care. Dr. Reagan McDonald-Mosley, CEO of Power to Decide and practicing physician, sits down to talk with us about mis- and disinformation around birth control.

Recent research from Power to Decide found that, while 38% of young people received information on contraception from social media, many of the same people wanted to receive that information from a health provider. Additional research found that 28% of young people who haven't received birth control information in the last year did not believe that birth control was safe. Examples of mis- and disinformation often include links between oral contraception and cancer, contraception and fertility, and the conflation of contraception and abortion (for example, many politicians compare emergency contraception and IUDs to abortifacients). Correcting mis- and disinformation surrounding contraception will open more doors for those requiring care and increase patient knowledge and confidence.

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Trigger warning: In this episode we talk about sexual assault and descriptions of unsafe abortions. Please engage with challenging content with caution.

45% of the 73 million abortions a year are unsafe. One of the reasons they are unsafe is due to U.S. policies that place restrictions on how family planning-related foreign assistance is used. Jodi Enda, Washington Bureau Chief and Senior Correspondent for The Fuller Project, sits down to talk with us about the multiple tools used by the U.S.-- including the Helms amendment and the Global Gag Rule-- and how far their harmful reach truly extends.

These unsafe abortions result in approximately 39,000 preventable maternal deaths and millions of complications each year. The U.S. is the biggest healthcare funder in the world, as well as the biggest funder of family planning assistance. Still, The Helms amendment and the Global Gag Rule both impact U.S. funding and U.S. global health assistance as it relates to abortion care, albeit in different ways. These foreign policies disproportionately impact access to abortion care for those who have experienced sexual violence, those who are in conflict and humanitarian settings, and those of low-incomes.

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The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA, is a statute passed by Congress in 1986 to ensure that nobody who is experiencing a medical emergency is turned away from receiving health care. But this week, the Supreme Court will hear arguments challenging EMTALA as it relates to emergency abortion care. Katie O’Connor, Director of Federal Abortion Policy at the National Women’s Law Center sits down to talk with us about the potential impacts of this ruling.

Under EMTALA, an emergency medical condition is defined “as a condition in which, without immediate medical attention, a patient's health or life is in serious jeopardy.” The statute does not make exceptions for state law, the personal beliefs of providers, or hospitals of religious affiliation. For pregnant people, abortion care can be a very necessary, time-sensitive, and sometimes life-saving health service. State-level abortion bans are already forcing patients to travel hours and long distances to receive care, and providers to leave the hostile states they are practicing in. EMTALA’s ruling may narrow, even more, the already constricted landscape that patients and providers find themselves navigating in the United States—especially for those who are experiencing an emergency.

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