Research Agenda

Adolescence Post-Dobbs: A Policy-Driven Research Agenda for Minor Adolescents and Abortion presents an actionable research agenda on abortion policy and its impacts on minors, who are adolescents under age 18. Our target audiences are researchers, funders of research, and individuals and organizations who help translate research evidence into policy. Our goals are to:

• Describe the need for research on minors and abortion.

• Identify the challenges that limit research on minors and abortion and the translation of research evidence to policy.

• Demonstrate that, despite extant challenges, research on minors and abortion is feasible and impactful. 

• Lay out a clear and actionable path for generating and translating rigorous, equitable, and impactful research on minors and abortion.

Key Conclusions

The report contains:

• Overarching research principles to guide the conduct of equitable, actionable, and impactful research in this area.

• Summary of the state policy landscape on minors’ abortion access.

• Policy-driven research agenda to advance knowledge and evidence-based policy on minors and abortion.

• Review of overarching challenges that have historically hampered research on minors’ abortion and recommends strategies for overcoming those challenges.