Georgia Medication Abortion (GAMA) Project
co-led by SisterLove, Inc. & RISE

What is the study about?

The Georgia Medication Abortion (GAMA) project explores perceptions and experiences of medication abortion among Black and Latinx women in metro-Atlanta, Georgia, with the goal of improving abortion access for their communities. It is led by and made for Black and Latinx women, who experience disproportionate barriers to reproductive health care, including abortion. SisterLove, Inc. and RISE co-lead this study.

In the first part of the GAMA project (funded by the Society of Family Planning), the team interviewed 10 abortion providers and 10 leaders of community-based organizations serving Black and Latinx women in metro-Atlanta. The team then conducted 32 interviews and 6 focus groups (n = 30) with Black and Latinx women.

SisterLove's organizational logo, which features many colors, including purple, blue, green, red, and orange arranged in a golden-ratio spiral

Using the findings from the interviews and focus groups, the team developed a psycho-educational video on medication abortion (“My Health in My Hands”) and a webinar-style training on ways to improve access to medication abortion among Black and Latinx women in Georgia, for use by clinics and community-based organizations.

The second part of the GAMA project is evaluating the efficacy of the psychoeducational video and training, and building capacity for SisterLove’s integrated HIV and medication abortion referral and education services.

What are the findings?

GAMA found that knowledge and awareness of medication abortion was lower for people of color, younger people, and people living in Georgia. But after viewing the psycho-educational video, most of those disparities disappeared, and knowledge of medication abortion increased for all participants.

GAMA also revealed multi-level barriers to medication abortion access for Black and Latinx women in metro-Atlanta, as well as suggested solutions.

  • Sociocultural factors, such as intersectional oppression, intersectional stigma, and
    medical experimentation

  • National and state policies, like Georgia’s cardiac activity limit

  • Clinic- and provider-related factors, such as lack of diverse staff, long waiting times, and high prices

  • Individual-level factors, like lack
    of knowledge and social support

Barriers included:

“The decision was easy to make to go and have an abortion. I don’t regret it at all. It’s just I wish the process had a bit more humanity to it.”
—24-year-old Black woman in Metro Atlanta

  • Social media campaigns and story-sharing

  • Reproductive Justice (RJ)–based policy advocacy

  • Clinics diversifying staff and offering flexible scheduling and fees

  • Community integration of abortion

  • RJ abortion funds

  • Social support (including abortion doulas)

  • Comprehensive sex education

Solutions included:

Click here to see a model of the barriers to and intervention strategies for medication abortion among Black and Latinx women in Georgia.

GAMA also proposes seven principles of community-led Reproductive Justice research

GAMA principles

1. Center marginalized community members most affected by sexual and reproductive health inequities as leaders of research.

2. Facilitate equitable, collaborative partnership through all phases of sexual and reproductive health research.

3. Honor multiple ways of knowing (experiential, cultural, empirical) for knowledge justice and cross-directional learning across the team.

4. Build on strengths (not deficits) within the community.

5. Implement the tenets of Reproductive Justice, including structural-level analysis and the human rights framework.

6. Prioritize disseminating useful findings to community members first, then to other audiences.

7. Take action to address social and reproductive injustices.

Read more about the findings in open-access papers published in Frontiers in Global Women's Health, Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters,
Psychology of Women Quarterly, and Health Equity.

Why does the study matter?

GAMA demonstrates how community-based reproductive justice organizations like SisterLove are natural leaders of family planning research. To ensure that Black and Latinx women are the first to benefit from this study and its findings, the project has prioritized community-facing dissemination products like the psychoeducational video and the clinical and community training. The study has also been leveraged to advocate against abortion bans including Georgia Senate Bill 456 (a proposed telemedicine ban on medication abortion in Georgia’s 2022 legislative session), and to inform amicus briefs for Supreme Court cases on abortion (e.g., Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization). GAMA also provides a unique opportunity for Black and Latinx student trainees to gain experience in community-based participatory research focused on reproductive health equity.

Meet the team!

GAMA is a partnership between SisterLove, RISE, and partner organizations serving Black and Latinx communities in Atlanta (e.g., Feminist Women’s Health Center, Center for Black Women’s Wellness, Caminar Latino). The study was guided by a Community Advisory Board and made possible by the passion and talent of numerous graduate research assistants at Emory and Georgia State Universities. Current team members include:

Three people smiling
Five people smiling

  • Dázon Dixon Diallo, DHL, MPH

    SISTERLOVE, INC.

  • Elizabeth Mosley, PhD, MPH

    EMORY UNIVERSITY, UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH

  • Sequoia Ayala, Esq., MA

    THE FULBRIGHT PROGRAM

  • Parie Bhandari, MPH

    SISTERLOVE, INC.

  • Tiffany Hailstorks, MD, MPH

    EMORY UNIVERSITY, FEMINIST WOMEN’S HEALTH CENTER, ATLANTA WOMEN’S MEDICAL CENTER

  • Hayley V. McMahon, MSPH, CPH

    EMORY UNIVERSITY

  • Nadine Spring, PhD, MPH, MS

    SISTERLOVE, INC.

  • India Stevenson

    EMORY UNIVERSITY

  • Teja Vyavahare, MPH

    SISTERLOVE, INC.