Ushma Upadhyay, PhD, MPH
@ushma.bsky.social
Professor at UCSF, Public health scientist trained in epi and demography. Expertise in #abortion safety & access, telehealth medication abortion, gender, adolescents. I’m also anti-guns.
Imagine being able to walk into a pharmacy, finding abortion pills on the shelf, and buying them without a prescription? 💊 New research shows this could be possible. We gave people a glimpse of this future via MiMi, a prototype of an over-the-counter medication abortion kit. Here's what they said:
“People living in states with abortion bans have to consider many factors,” when making reproductive health choices, said ANSIRH's @ushma.bsky.social. This includes the risk of criminalization.
Abortion Bans, Restrictions Could Cost U.S. Economy $140 Billion: New Report
Because when people can’t choose when or if to have kids, their paychecks and job options tend to stagnate, dwindle, and disappear. A recent Institute for Women's Policy Research report shows that…
rewirenewsgroup.com
If SCOTUS restricts medication abortion via telehealth, the impact will be devastating, says ANSIRH's @ushma.bsky.social. "If they do make that decision, it'll be based on politics, not science, not medical evidence. It will impact access in all 50 states."
League of Mifepristone Defenders
Podcast Episode · Outlawed · May 8 · 36m
podcasts.apple.com
In our March issue #NewPublication finds that telehealth abortion reduces structural barriers to abortion and mitigates experiences of stigma: bit.ly/47BIpXX By @andreabeckerphd.bsky.social Celina Doria Leah R. Koenig Jennifer Kro & @ushma.bsky.social
“The U.S. is becoming a tale of two countries in terms of abortion access and abortion policy,” said @ushma.bsky.social. But, she added, “All of this legislation will never take away from the fact that women will continue to need abortion care, and continue to get abortion care."
Three Years After Dobbs, ‘the Reality Is People Are Getting Abortions’
nytimes.com
“The U.S. is becoming a tale of two countries in terms of abortion access and abortion policy." @ushma.bsky.social talks to @nytimes.com about the patchwork of abortion laws in the US and how no matter what, people will need abortion care
Three Years After Dobbs, ‘the Reality Is People Are Getting Abortions’
nytimes.com
27% of abortions in the first half of this year were provided via telehealth. @ushma.bsky.social highlights that "telehealth has become a lifeline for people accessing abortion care, especially those in states with abortion bans."
Telehealth Abortions Have Increased 27 Percent in 2025 in the Wake of Roe v. Wade Being Overturned
More people have been accessing abortion care via telehealth, according to new data released from The Society of Family Planning on Tuesday, Dec. 9. 27% of abortions provided in the U.S. from January…
people.com
IT'S HERE! Our research on how TV tackled abortion in 2025. Some notable findings: 📺 only 37% of shows featured a character who actually had an abortion, down past years 📺 the return of several troubling themes, notably the association of abortion w/shame & death www.ansirh.org/research/res...
Abortion Onscreen in 2025
This year, we tracked 65 abortion plotlines across cable, broadcast, and streaming channels. While we documented some familiar trends, we also observed a return to concerning tropes.
ansirh.org
A new report shows Tennesseans increasingly relying on telehealth to obtain abortion care after the state’s ban. @ushma.bsky.social, report co-chair, says telehealth has become “a lifeline” for people seeking care in states with bans Read from @anitawadhwani.bsky.social, @tennesseelookout.com:
Report: after abortion ban, Tennesseans increasingly rely on telehealth to terminate pregnancies • Tennessee Lookout
Tennesseans obtained abortions during the first half of 2025 through telehealth visits with healthcare providers in other states.
tennesseelookout.com
Abortion nationwide has increased since Roe was overturned. The latest data from @SocietyFP’s #WeCount Study is clear: Abortion bans don’t stop people from needing or obtaining abortions.
ANSIRH@ansirh.bsky.social · 10mo agoTelehealth has “become a lifeline” for women seeking to end their pregnancies, especially those who live under abortion bans, said @ushma.bsky.social, co-chair of #WeCount, to @washingtonpost.com. wapo.st/3MN5hfi
Telehealth has “become a lifeline” for women seeking to end their pregnancies, especially those who live under abortion bans, said @ushma.bsky.social, co-chair of #WeCount, to @washingtonpost.com. wapo.st/3MN5hfi
According to #WeCount results from last year, 1 out of 4 abortions was provided via telehealth. “All of this legislation will never take away from the fact that women will continue to need abortion care, and continue to get abortion care.” - @ushma.bsky.social
Three Years After Dobbs, the State Divide Over Abortion Deepens
The state divide over abortions has only deepened since the Supreme Court decision. But research shows the number of abortions has climbed.
nytimes.com
Medication abortion is common, safe, and effective. @ushma.bsky.social and @drdgrossman.bsky.social of @ansirh.bsky.social debunk false information pushed by Florida's attorney general
Florida AG says 1 in 25 people who take the abortion pill are hospitalized. Here's the fact-check.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is suing Planned Parenthood for what he called deceptive marketing practices involving abortion pills.
19thnews.org
A misleading report is being used to undermine trust in Mifepristone. The report’s authors “clearly misconstrued and used deceptive methods to erroneously inflate the rate of serious adverse events after an abortion,” said @ushma.bsky.social.
Trump Officials Cite Dubious Estimates of Medication Abortion Harms - FactCheck.org
As justification for a Food and Drug Administration review of a drug used in medication abortion, two Trump administration health officials have referenced an April report from an anti-abortion group…
factcheck.org
Mayor Pete has the right to marry because the gay men and lesbians who came before him fought for it. It was a movement based our identities in the plural sense as LGBTQ Americans. Pander somewhere else fella.
Texas Tribune@texastribune.org · 11mo agoSpeaking at a Texas Tribune Festival on Friday, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg criticized the Democratic Party for failing to reach everyday Americans, arguing that it “got sucked in” to a conversation about identity. #TribFest25
“What they need to do is look at the published literature on telehealth for medication abortion, and what they would find is that it is as safe and effective as in-person care." @ushma.bsky.social of @ansirh.bsky.social discusses the FDA's questionable review of medication abortion safety
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tells FDA to review safety of mifepristone
Years of scientific evidence from rigorous studies have overwhelmingly established the safety and effectiveness of the abortion pill.
pennsylvaniaindependent.com
Anti-abortion advocates are pushing for review of the drug’s safety, claiming there’s “new evidence to consider” based on new junk science reports that were put up on the internet. pennsylvaniaindependent.com/reproductive...
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tells FDA to review safety of mifepristone
Years of scientific evidence from rigorous studies have overwhelmingly established the safety and effectiveness of the abortion pill.
pennsylvaniaindependent.com
“If the FDA were to do an actual review based on gold-standard science, I think they would actually end up removing the barriers that remain on mifepristone." ANSIRH's @ushma.bsky.social to @sciam.bsky.social #AbortionAccurate
Decades of Evidence Show the Abortion Pill Is Safe. So Why Is the FDA Investigating It Again?
Some scientists are concerned that the Trump administration will use “junk science” when reviewing mifepristone’s safety record
scientificamerican.com
Congratulations to Society Board member Blair Darney, PhD, MLH for her appointment as incoming Editor-in-Chief of Contraception, the official journal of the Society of Family Planning. www.contraceptionjournal.org
Missouri appeals court rules against attorney general, allows abortions to continue www.stltoday.com/news/local/g...
Missouri appeals court rules against attorney general, allows abortions to continue
Abortion will remain available at Planned Parenthood clinics in Missouri, a judge ruled, rejecting a request by the attorney general’s office to reinstate several restrictions on the procedure.
stltoday.com
"With this new one, it’s possible that the price could come down further," ANSIRH'S @ushma.bsky.social told Newsday, "which would really increase access, especially for people [living in states] with abortion bans who have these tremendous barriers to abortion care."
What to know about the new FDA-approved generic abortion pill
The federal drug regulating agency approved an additional generic version of the abortion drug mifepristone.
newsday.com
Big moment for me, my first-ever publication credit! The Digital Defense Fund team contributed to this paper on practical data privacy practices for research with abortion seekers, including those facing the most serious threats. Just out in Contraception: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Society of Family Planning Research Practice Support: Digital and data security for abortion research in a post-Dobbs era—A primer for qualitative researchers
Abortion is banned or severely restricted in nearly half of the United States. Research on the impact of these restrictions and abortion care has neve…
sciencedirect.com
Research on pregnancy has become a lot harder to study because of concerns about causing any sort of harm to the fetus could potentially invoke fetal personhood laws or #abortion laws. www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
RFK Jr.’s got advice for pregnant women. There’s limited data to support it.
Women of reproductive age have long been missing from clinical trials. It’s getting worse where abortion is banned.
politico.com
At least 101 studies in 26 countries over three decades have found that medication abortions are very safe. But the FDA is reevaluating access to medication abortion pills based on one politically motivated junk-science “study.” This is unacceptable. www.cnn.com/2025/09/25/h...
Federal agencies are studying safety of abortion drug mifepristone, driving new concerns about limits on access | CNN
The US Food and Drug Administration is reviewing evidence about the safety and efficacy of mifepristone, one of the drugs used in medication abortion, to investigate how it can be safely dispensed,…
cnn.com
ANSIRH's @ushma.bsky.social put together a 9-point review of the report's major flaws. Very little information is provided about the source of the data, and the level of risk the report found to be associated with mifepristone is overstated. www.ansirh.org/research/res...
ANSIRH Debunks Questionable Junk Analysis on Abortion Safety
Health and Human Services Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary have expressed plans to conduct a new review of mifepristone’s safety based on an unverified and biased…
ansirh.org
Proud to have signed on to this letter, along with many other colleagues in the field (including @guttmacher.org researchers @cbpolis.bsky.social , @megankavanaugh.bsky.social, Kathryn Kost, Rachel Jones, Ann Moore and Beth Sully)
UCLA Law Center on Repro Health, Law, & Policy@uclarepropolicy.bsky.social · last yr.Today we and our colleagues at @ansirh.bsky.social submitted a letter to the FDA for over 260 researchers affirming the 25-year safety record of mifepristone and urging the FDA not to restrict abortion pill access based on junk science. Read the letter here: law.ucla.edu/sites/defaul...
Abbe Lowell and I represent CDC Director #SusanMonarez. Contrary to govt statements, Dr. Monarez has neither resigned nor yet been fired. She will not resign. We have issued the following statement:
If they can’t outlaw abortion pills, anti-abortion activists will try to make them impossible to access. Costco just caved to pressure to stop selling mifepristone.
Costco Forgoes Sale of Abortion Pill, Emboldening Religious Groups
A coalition of faith-based activists had pressured the retailer to not offer the abortion pill mifepristone in its pharmacy locations. The group now turns its focus to CVS and Walgreens.
bloomberg.com
Today we submitted a letter with @uclarepropolicy.bsky.social to the FDA signed by over 200 scientists. The short version? Medication abortion is safe. Time to drop the junk science and move on. law.ucla.edu/reproductive...
Center on Reproductive Health, Law, and Policy Reproductive Health Researchers Comment Letter to FDA
On August 27th, 2025, UCLA Center on Reproductive Health, Law, and Policy (CRHLP) and Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) at UCSF submitted a letter on behalf of more than 260 rese...
law.ucla.edu
