Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Infodemiology
Date Submitted: Jul 20, 2024
Date Accepted: Oct 8, 2024
How reproductive health information-seeking behaviors changed post-Dobbs: A Wikipedia page views analysis
ABSTRACT
Background:
After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, confusion followed regarding the legality of abortion in different states across the country. Recent studies found increased Google searches for abortion-related terms in restricted states after the Dobbs decision was leaked. Since patients and providers use Wikipedia as a predominant medical information source, we hypothesized that changes in reproductive health information-seeking behavior could be better understood by examining Wikipedia article traffic.
Objective:
Our objective is to examine trends in Wikipedia usage for abortion and contraception information pre- and post-Dobbs.
Methods:
Page views of abortion and contraception-related Wikipedia pages were scraped. Temporal changes in page views pre- and post-Dobbs were then analyzed to explore changes in baseline views, differences in views for abortion-related information in states with restrictive abortion laws versus non-restrictive states, and viewer trends on contraception-related pages.
Results:
Wikipedia articles related to abortion topics had significantly increased page views following the leaked and final Dobbs decision. There was a 103-fold increase in the page views for the Wikipedia article Roe v. Wade following the Dobbs decision leak (372654 ± 135478 v. 3614 ± 248; P<.001) and a 67-fold increase in page views following the release of the final Dobbs decision (8,942 ± 402 v. 595,871 ± 178649; P<.001). Articles about abortion in the most restrictive states had a greater increase in page views (M=40.6, SD±12.7, n=18) than articles about abortion in states with some restrictions/protections (P<.001, M=26.8, SD±7.3, n=24) and in the most protective states (P<.001, M=20.6, SD±5.7, n=8). Finally, views to pages about common contraceptive methods significantly increased post-Dobbs. “Vasectomy” page views increased by 183%(P=.0023), “Intrauterine device” page views increased by 80% (P<.001), “Combined oral contraceptive pill” page views increased by 24% P=.0023), “Emergency Contraception” page views increased by 224% (P=.0013), and “Tubal ligation” page views increased by 92% (P=.0083).
Conclusions:
People sought information on Wikipedia about abortion and contraception at increased rates post-Dobbs. Increased traffic to abortion-related Wikipedia articles correlated to the restrictiveness of states abortion policies. Increased interest in contraception-related pages reflects the increased demand for contraceptives observed post-Dobbs. Our work positions Wikipedia as an important source of reproductive health information and demands increased attention to maintain and improve Wikipedia as a reliable source of health information post-Dobbs.
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