March

Since the Dobbs v. Jackson decision in 2022, abortion access has been increasingly restricted—especially in states with both anti-abortion and anti-immigrant policies. Immigrant women, particularly those who are undocumented, face compounded barriers including poverty, lack of insurance, legal exclusion, and fear of criminalization or deportation. Many resort to self-managed or unsafe abortions due to limited access and heightened fear. Despite their vulnerability, immigrant women are vastly underrepresented in abortion research and policy discussions. As reproductive and immigration restrictions converge, these women stand at the intersection of risk, facing grave threats to their health, rights, and autonomy.

Our research has examined how student loans have affected American borrowers, and how their behavior changed during and after the loan pause. Further evidence suggests that student loan debt is leading to delays in family formation for many young adults, contributing to the record low childbearing rates and the record high typical age at first marriage seen in the United States today.

The landscape of abortion access in the United States has undergone significant changes since the Dobbs decision. While some states have imposed strict restrictions, others have taken steps to protect reproductive rights. The ongoing legal and political developments continue to shape the realities of abortion access nationwide.

Main page listing all the articles / presentations at the 2025 Council on Contemporary Families Symposium.

Birth outcomes are strongly linked to income but proving a direct cause-and-effect relationship has been challenging. Our new study, published in Demography, uses the economic boom from Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale natural gas development as a “natural experiment” to examine how community-level income gains affect pregnancy behaviors and birth outcomes.