Sexual and Reproductive Health Advocacy Successes, Failures, and Needs in the United States: Perspectives From Key Stakeholders

Abstract

Physician advocates for sexual and reproductive health (SRH) care have been active in the United States for decades. Despite such activism, access to SRH services has been fraught with persistent restrictions, particularly for abortion care. We sought the perspectives of key stakeholders on what makes for an effective SRH physician advocate and thoughts about the successes, failures, and needs of the abortion advocacy movement. We interviewed 15 SRH key informants (KIs) in sectors with expertise in organizational policy and advocacy (n = 6); clinical leadership and education (n = 3), media (n = 3), and reproductive justice (n = 3). The analytic team coded repeating ideas and conducted a thematic analysis, organizing findings within KI perspectives on the role of physician advocates in the field of abortion and contraception; successes, failures, and needs in abortion and contraception advocacy; and recommendations on the composition and components of an ideal clinician advocacy training program. KIs relayed that skill building related to communication, developing relationships with changemakers, and understanding political systems was critical for effective advocacy. They felt clinician advocacy training programs should include providers other than physicians and be designed for trainees to build relationships with one another over time. KI perspectives can be valuable in informing advocacy training programs and for contributing strategic approaches to increasing equitable and widespread access to SRH services.

Keywords: abortion; advocacy; public health law; public health policy; public policy; qualitative; reproductive health; reproductive rights.