Expansion of a Family Planning Community Advisory Board

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Currently, much legislation in the US focuses on restrictions to comprehensive reproductive care for pregnant people. These limitations hit marginalized communities particularly hard. Black individuals die at twice the rate among pregnant people, and Latinx death rates are 30% higher than white individuals. These inequities are expected to worsen with the expansion of these restrictive laws. This project seeks to reverse these trends by expanding an existing Family Planning Community Advisory Board (CAB) to include 3-5 additional members from historically marginalized groups. Recruitment efforts focused on Black, Indigenous, and Hispanic people in Washington and the greater Seattle area. Recruitment methods were connections through the research team and sitting CAB members, working with the UW Translational Center Community Engagement consultancy, and searching social media for groups of people with interests in comprehensive reproductive care. CAB meetings utilized the Research Justice Framework, which focuses on communities as research leaders and balances power differentials between communities and researchers. Communities create research priorities, and researchers facilitate answering research questions as equal partners in the process. The Hyde Amendment is a legislative provision barring the use of federal funds to pay for abortion, except to save the life of the woman, or if the pregnancy arises from incest or rape.

Author(s):

  • Brittany Rattiliff, MPH, Research Scientist, University of Washington
  • Anna Fiastro, MPH, MEM, PhDc, Research Coordinator, University of Washington
  • Molly Ruben, MPH, Research Coordinator, University of Washington
  • Elizabeth Jacob-Files, MA, MPH, Qualitative Health Researcher, University of Washington
  • Emily M. Godfrey, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Family Medicine, University of Washington