Clinical Psychology in the Post-Dobbs Era: Navigating Clinical Practice, Research, and Advocacy in a Changing Sexual and Reproductive Health Landscape

Since 2022, following the Dobbs decision by the United States Supreme Court, abortion restrictions have increased throughout the country. This represents the most recent phase of decades of political and legal restrictions on abortion access, including the 1976 Hyde Amendment restricting federal funds for abortion services. Limiting access to legal abortion and safe reproductive healthcare has serious implications for the mental health of people who can become pregnant, and thus for clinical psychology. However, there are gaps in competence around sexual and reproductive health (SRH) for clinical psychologists in research and practice. In this paper, we 1) review empirical evidence regarding abortion and mental health, 2) discuss barriers to SRH competence for clinical psychology, and 3) present guiding principles for psychologists and institutions/training programs to address these competence gaps across research, clinical practice, and advocacy. We focus on clinical psychology, but the content is applicable to behavioral health disciplines broadly.