Research Projects
The meaning of victory in the politics of stratified reproduction: A social history of HB40
A multi-sited ethnography of the passage and implementation of a 2017 Illinois law that reinstated public funding for abortion care through the state’s Medicaid program. It includes 51 in-depth interviews with stakeholders involved with the policymaking process and 99 interviews with people who received abortion care after the implementation of the law in 2019.
Funding Sources:
» 2018-2020: Multi-year grant from an anonymous foundation (administered by University of Cincinnati)
» 2020-2021: Society of Family Planning Emerging Scholars Grant
» 2022-2023: One-year grant from an anonymous foundation (administered through the Chicago Abortion Fund)
Refereed Journal Articles:
Jeyifo, Megan, Aalap Ooha Bommaraju, and Qudsiyyah Shariyf. 2023. “Chicago Abortion Fund: Shaping Change: 99 Steps Towards Justice.” Portable Gray 6 (1): 70–95. https://doi.org/10.1086/725616
Zuniga, Carmela, Aalap Bommaraju, Lee Hasselbacher, Debra Stulberg, and Terri-Ann Thompson. 2022.“Provider and Community Stakeholder Perspectives of Expanding Medicaid Coverage of Abortion in Illinois.” BMC Health Services Research 22 (March): 413. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-07761-5
Hasselbacher, Lee, Carmela Zuniga, Aalap Bommaraju, Terri-Ann Thompson, and Debra Stulberg. 2021.“Lessons Learned: Illinois Providers’ Perspectives on Implementation of Medicaid Coverage for Abortion.” Contraception 103 (6): 414–19. https://doi.org/10/gqxg68
Ohio's Family Planning Safety Net
A qualitative study of how 50 administrators across 35 safety-net healthcare organizations serving Ohioans interpreted and implemented state and federal laws to serve their communities while working with an anti-abortion state government.
Funding Sources:
» 2018-2020: Cycle 1
funding for the Ohio
Policy Evaluation Network
(OPEN)
Refereed Journal Articles:
Kim, Emily*, Sachika Singh*, Aalap Bommaraju, Alison H. Norris, and Danielle Bessett. 2021. “‘We Have to Respect That Option’: The Abortion Aversion Complex in Safety-Net Healthcare Organizations.” Social Science & Medicine 291 (December): 114468. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114468
*student mentee at time of publication
Evaluating Interactional Dynamics in Reproductive Life Planning
A quantitative-then-qualitative study of how 23 family planning practitioners in the City of Cincinnati’s Reproductive Health & Wellness Program encouraged preconception care utilization within population groups considered to be at high risk for unintended and unwanted pregnancy.
Funding Sources:
» 2015: Community Leaders Institute grant from University of Cincinnati’s Center for Clinical &
Translational Science & Training (CCTST)
» 2017: Graduate Enhancement Award from University of Cincinnati’s Taft Research Center
Refereed Journal Articles:
Bommaraju, Aalap, Jennifer Malat, and Jennifer Mooney. 2015. “Reproductive Life Plan Counseling and
Effective Contraceptive Use among Urban Women Utilizing Title X Services.” Women’s Health Issues 25
(3): 209–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.whi.2015.02.005