Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts launches new Center for Sexual and Reproductive Health to expand abortion access and reproductive health equity

BOSTON – This week, Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts (PPLM) launched a new Center for Sexual and Reproductive Health to advance reproductive health equity and train the next generation of reproductive health care providers both in Massachusetts and across the country. The ASPIRE (Advancing Science and Practice through Innovations in Research and Education) Center will expand PPLM’s nationally recognized expertise in education, research, and clinical training through partnerships with academic institutions, teaching hospitals, health care professionals, and community-based organizations. It will focus on combating systemic barriers that disproportionately prevent BIPOC, LGBTQ+, youth, and people with disabilities from accessing quality care.

“ASPIRE is one way to be prepared for the future and fight even harder for our patients in Massachusetts and beyond, as abortion access and reproductive freedom are stripped away from millions across the country,” said Dr. Jennifer Childs-Roshak, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. “We need more research on abortion, birth control, sexual and reproductive health care, and to develop and provide more inclusive, comprehensive sex education. We need to train the next generation of doctors and clinicians. ASPIRE will be the catalyst for all that.”

“The future of abortion will depend on navigating networks, and ASPIRE can play a vital role in developing those networks so that care remains accessible in a post-Roe world,” said Dr. Alisa Goldberg, Vice President of Research at PPLM and the Founding Director of the Division of Family Planning at Brigham Women’s Hospital. “ASPIRE will be able to streamline and expand education efforts in our communities about sexual and reproductive health care, normalize abortion through conversations, and communicate the danger of anti-abortion laws through research.”

Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts is uniquely positioned to host ASPIRE as one of only six Planned Parenthood affiliates that conducts social science research, one of thirteen affiliates that conducts clinical research, and one with a nationally recognized education department.

The ASPIRE Center will formally launch this fall with research, training, and education programs to be announced.