A new study shows a significant number of Ohio women felt their reproductive health needs were not being met in recent years, with 30% of surveyed Ohio residents reporting they needed but didn’t get one or more types of care between 2024 and 2025.

The Urban Institute released data from the 2024-2025 Reproductive Health Experiences and Access survey, a study looking to determine the impact of the overturning of nationwide abortion legalization on reproductive healthcare.

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade with the 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, returning the decision of abortion legality to individual states.

“Understanding whether and how people are facing challenges to accessing reproductive healthcare in the context of these changes will be key to mitigating health inequities and ensuring people get the care they want and need,” researchers Dulce Gonzalez and Emily M. Johnson wrote.

In 2023, Ohio voters approved a constitutional amendment to legalize abortion and other reproductive care with 57% approval.

Researchers found that, despite the constitutional amendment, 30% of Ohio residents participating in the survey “reported needing but not getting one or more types of care” between 2024 and 2025.

Reproductive healthcare noted in the study were services like pelvic exams, cervical cancer screenings, care for irregular or painful periods, birth control, fertility assistance, gender-affirming care, and menopause care.

“Factors like cost, insurance barriers, and difficulty securing an appointment can prevent people from accessing the care they want and need,” according to the institute analysis.

Of those Ohioans reporting a lack of needed care, 16% said they didn’t receive “preventive gynecologic care,” and 11% did not receive care for irregular or painful periods.

Another of the issues survey participants said they had trouble with was access to birth control, with 6% telling researchers they “delayed or had trouble getting the birth control method they wanted in the past year.”

The data from Ohio aligned with the Urban Institute’s national data, showing 16% of participants across the country lacking needed preventive gynecologic care, and 10% reporting a lack of menstrual period care.

Nationwide, 7% of survey-takers reported delays or struggles with access to birth control.

“Barriers to reproductive healthcare were not spread evenly across the population,” Gonzalez and Johnson wrote. “Young people, people with disabilities, and those who identify as LGBTQIA+ were more likely to report challenges to accessing reproductive healthcare.”

Individuals age 18 to 24 represented the biggest Ohio group to have delays or struggle obtaining birth control between 2024 and 2025, amounting to 9% of all Ohioans reporting access issues.

Members of the LGBTQIA+ community made up 12% of those having trouble getting birth control, according to researchers.

U.S. Census data showed that as of 2023, 2.4 million women were “of reproductive age” in Ohio.

Of those, 13.1% were low income, 27.2% were in minority groups, and 7.6% were uninsured, researchers noted.

While the study acknowledged Medicaid expansions in Ohio that provided health coverage to adults up to 138% of the federal poverty level, and pregnant women up to 205% of the level, it also pointed out a lack of expansion in state Medicaid coverage for family planning services.

Medicaid funding in Ohio can’t be used for abortion care.

Also mentioned as part of the research were ongoing court cases related to reproductive rights in Ohio.

Open cases in Ohio challenge the 24-hour waiting period before an abortion, telehealth regulations on medication abortion, and transfer agreements between hospitals and clinics who provide abortions.

Courts have put temporary blocks on enforcement of the 24-hour waiting period and telehealth abortion bans as lawsuits continue.

Ohio lawmakers are also trying to enact a second measure with a 24-hour waiting period for abortion in the current General Assembly.

With the legislature on break until after the November election, it’s unclear whether the measure will make it out before the term ends in December.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.