ArticlePerspectives on sexual and reproductive health2023
"I'm going to be forced to have a baby": A study of COVID-19 abortion experiences on Reddit.
Article in Perspectives on sexual and reproductive health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Contraception-Related Posts from Adolescents, Young Adults, and Caregivers on Reddit: A Qualitative Content Analysis.Journal of pediatric and adolescent gynecology · 2026Article
- Examining women's experiences with medication abortion: a critical inquiry of women's online narratives post-Dobbs.Frontiers in global women's health · 2026Article
- How Women with Endometriosis Use Social Media for Support and Self-Management: An Analysis of Reddit Content.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Have Others Had This Experience? A Qualitative Analysis of Posts on Self-Managed Abortion to US-Based Reddit Community.Perspectives on sexual and reproductive health · 2025Article
- Analyzing Reddit Forums Specific to Abortion That Yield Diverse Dialogues Pertaining to Medical Information Seeking and Personal Worldviews: Data Mining and Natural Language Processing Comparative Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
introductionThe initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic affected abortion care in the United States (US) in myriad ways. While research has documented systems-level pandemic-related impacts on abortion access and care delivery little information exists about the experiences of abortion seekers during this period. We sought to document the effects of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions US abortion seekers by analyzing posts on Reddit, a popular social media website.
methodsWe compiled and coded 528 anonymous posts on the abortion subreddit from 3/20/2020 to 4/12/2020 and applied inductive qualitative analytic techniques to identify themes.
resultsWe identified four primary themes. First, posters reported several COVID-19-related barriers to abortion services: reduced in-person access due to clinic closures, mail delivery delays of abortion medications, and pandemic-related financial barriers to both self-managed and in-clinic abortion. The second theme encompassed quarantine-driven privacy challenges, primarily challenges with concealing an abortion from household members. Third, posters detailed how the pandemic constrained their pregnancy decision making, including time pressure from impending clinic closures. Finally, posters reported COVID-19-related changes to service delivery that negatively affected their abortion experiences, for example being unable to bring a support person into the clinic due to pandemic visitor restrictions. DISCUSSION: This analysis of real-time social media posts reveals multiple ways that the COVID-19 pandemic limited abortion access in the US and affected abortion seekers' decisions and experiences. Findings shed light on the consequences of sudden changes, whether pandemic or policy related, on abortion service delivery.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.