Technology in Abortion Care: a Scoping Review on Contexts of Use, Research Methods, Ethical Considerations and Impact

Paper Title

Technology in Abortion Care: a Scoping Review on Contexts of Use, Research Methods, Ethical Considerations and Impact

Publication Info

• Topic area: Technological applications in abortion care and their implications for HCI research.
• Keywords: Abortion care, telemedicine, digital health, HCI, reproductive justice, ethical considerations, technology design, access barriers, legal constraints, care continuity.

Background and Problem

• Problem / challenge: Research on abortion care technologies is fragmented across disciplines, lacks a consolidated understanding, and is predominantly U.S.-centric, focusing narrowly on telemedicine without addressing broader equity and design challenges.
• Significance: Abortion care technologies are critical for overcoming barriers to safe, timely, and equitable care, particularly in restrictive legal and socio-political contexts.
• Motivation and related work: Prior work has explored telemedicine, digital health, and online platforms for abortion care but has not systematically mapped their applications, ethical challenges, or impact. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive scoping review to inform future HCI research.

Solution

• Proposed approach: A scoping review of 92 studies to map technological applications in abortion care, focusing on contexts of use, research methods, ethical considerations, and pathways to impact.
• Novelty:
  1. Comprehensive mapping of abortion care technologies across medical and HCI disciplines.
  2. Analysis of ethical challenges and strategies for navigating them in abortion care research.
  3. Identification of gaps in design-oriented research and calls for expanding beyond telemedicine.
  4. Recommendations for HCI to address equity, temporality, and continuity of care in abortion technologies.
• Procedure and key techniques:
  • Systematic scoping review following Arksey and O’Malley’s framework and PRISMA–ScR guidelines.
  • Inclusion of studies meeting specific eligibility criteria (e.g., technologies designed for abortion care, human participant involvement).
  • Data extraction across five dimensions: research context, technology use, methods, ethics, and impact.
  • Analysis of trends, gaps, and ethical considerations in the corpus.

Results

• Concrete findings:
  • 85 out of 92 studies focused on telemedicine, highlighting its safety and effectiveness but limited scope.
  • Majority of studies (51/92) were U.S.-based, with significant underrepresentation of Global South contexts.
  • Ethical challenges include navigating legal constraints, ensuring participant safety, and addressing abortion stigma.
  • Telemedicine improves access but risks reinforcing inequities due to digital divides and structural barriers.
• Advantage over baselines:
  • Provides a broader interdisciplinary perspective compared to prior reviews focused solely on medical outcomes.
  • Highlights gaps in design-oriented research and the need for culturally and contextually grounded approaches.
• Experiments / evaluation:
  • Studies used qualitative (n=27), quantitative (n=37), and mixed methods (n=28).
  • Sample sizes ranged widely, with significant variability in participant diversity and representativeness.
  • Ethical considerations included privacy protections, recruitment protocols, and strategies to mitigate stigma.
• Limitations and future work:
  • Overrepresentation of telemedicine and U.S.-centric studies limits generalizability.
  • Lack of design contributions and underrepresentation of marginalized populations.
  • Future research should explore non-telemedicine technologies, address digital divides, and integrate continuity of care.

Summary

This scoping review maps the landscape of abortion care technologies, emphasizing telemedicine's transformative role while identifying significant gaps in design-oriented research and equity considerations. Ethical challenges, including legal constraints and stigma, are central to the field, necessitating robust safeguards for participants and researchers. The paper calls on the HCI community to expand beyond telemedicine, address structural inequities, and design for continuity of care. By situating abortion care technologies within diverse legal, cultural, and social contexts, this work provides a foundation for advancing equitable and impactful research in reproductive health.