Traditional family planning research has excluded Black and Latinx leaders, and little is known about medication abortion (MA) among racial/ethnic minorities, although it is an increasingly vital reproductive health service, particularly after the fall of
Roe v. Wade
. Reproductive justice (RJ) community-based organisation (CBO) SisterLove led a study on Black and Latinx women’s MA perceptions and experiences in Georgia. From April 2019 to December 2020, we conducted key informant interviews with 20 abortion providers and CBO leaders and 32 in-depth interviews and 6 focus groups (
n
= 30) with Black and Latinx women. We analysed data thematically using a team-based, iterative approach of coding, memo-ing, and discussion. Participants described multilevel barriers to and strategies for MA access, wishing that “
the process had a bit more humanity
…
[it] should be more holistic.”
Barriers included (1) sociocultural factors (intersectional oppression, intersectional stigma, and medical experimentation); (2) national and state policies; (3) clinic- and provider-related factors (lack of diverse clinic staff, long waiting times); and (4) individual-level factors (lack of knowledge and social support). Suggested solutions included (1) social media campaigns and story-sharing; (2) RJ-based policy advocacy; (3) diversifying clinic staff, offering flexible scheduling and fees, community integration of abortion, and RJ abortion funds; and (4) social support (including abortion doulas) and comprehensive sex education. Findings suggest that equitable MA access for Black and Latinx communities in the post-
Roe
era will require multi-level intervention, informed by community-led evidence production; holistic, de-medicalised, and human rights-based care models; and intersectional RJ policy advocacy.
ABSTRACT. Hydro-distilled essential oil from Satureja biflora (Lamiaceae) growing in Kenya was analysed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and also evaluated for antimicrobial activity. Twenty two compounds which constitute 99.29 % of the total oil were identified. The oil was dominated by monoterpenes, which accounted for 62.02 % of the oil. This monoterpene fraction was characterized by a high percentage of linalool (50.60 %) such that this Satureja species can be classified as the linalool chemotype. The other major monoterpenes were α-terpineol (2.80 %), β-ocimene (2.25 %), β-pinene (1.96 %) and cis-linalool oxide (1.91 %). Sesquiterpenes present in fairly good amounts are germacrene D (10.63 %), α-cadinol (4.53 %), β-bourbonene (2.33 %), δ-cadinene (2.19 %), τ-cadinol (2.17 %), endo-1-bourbonanol (2.14 %) and β-caryophyllene (1.98 %). Aliphatic alcohols and acids accounted for 7.23 % of the oil, of which the major one was linoleic acid (4.48 %). The oil was screened for antimicrobial activity against both gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus ssp.) and gram-negative (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi, Klebsiella pheumoniae, Proteus mirabilis) bacteria and a pathogenic fungus (Candida albicans). To the best of our knowledge nothing concerning the chemical composition and biological activity of the essential oil of S. biflora has been reported.
IntroductionWhile reproductive injustice indicators are improving globally, they are worsening in the United States particularly for Black and other marginalized communities. Eugenics and obstetric violence against low-income and communities of color create well-founded distrust of sexual and reproductive health (SRH). Transformational, reparative ways of conducting SRH research are needed.Proposed principles of community-led research for reproductive justiceDrawing on our collective experience as reproductive justice leaders, SRH researchers, and clinicians, we propose the following principles of community-led research for reproductive justice: 1) Center the marginalized community members most affected by SRH inequities as leaders of research; 2) Facilitate equitable, collaborative partnership through all phases of SRH research; 3) Honor multiple ways of knowing (experiential, cultural, empirical) for knowledge justice and cross-directional learning across the team; 4) Build on strengths (not deficits) within the community; 5) Implement the tenets of reproductive justice including structural-level analysis and the human rights framework; 6) Prioritize disseminating useful findings to community members first then to other audiences; 7) Take action to address social and reproductive injustices.SisterLove's community-led georgia medication abortion projectWe offer the community-led Georgia Medication Abortion (GAMA) Project by reproductive justice organization SisterLove from 2018–2022 as a case study to demonstrate these principles along with the strengths and challenges of reproductive justice research.DiscussionCommunity-led reproductive justice research offers innovative and transformational methods for truly advancing SRH in an era of increasing policy restrictions and decreasing access to care. Yet existing funding, research administrative, and publishing systems will require structural change.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.