A closer look at “Abortion Access After Roe: Researcher Uses Reddit and AI to Capture Real Barriers”, exactly as the source publishes it. In the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, abortion access in the United States has changed dramatically, but the full picture of how people are affected is still emerging. Betsy Pleasants, a researcher recognized as a STAT Wunderkind, is using an unconventional source to understand those effects: Reddit.
By analyzing posts and discussions on the platform, Pleasants is capturing real-time, self-reported experiences of people facing barriers to abortion care—barriers that traditional data sources often miss. Pleasants's work is not just about collecting anecdotes; she is developing a framework for using AI tools to analyze large volumes of social media data while maintaining a focus on the human stories behind the numbers. For the complete material, the listing points back to the source inside the network.