MEDIA COVERAGE

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My research has been featured in media outlets globally, translating complex evidence on sexual and reproductive health for public audiences. The list below shares some of that coverage, ranging from high-profile investigations on research integrity to explanations of contraceptive effectiveness and fertility tracking technologies.

Note: Inclusion below does not indicate endorsement of all content or framing in each piece.

• ​Right-Wingers Love Fertility Awareness. Reproductive Health Advocates Need to Stop Dismissing It. Garnet Henderson, Autonomy News. September 2026.
• Me, Myself, and IUDs: did birth control make my depression worse? - Julia Lurie, Mother Jones, July 2026
• ​The U.S. is destroying $9.7 million in contraceptives. Is there another option? - Rachel Treisman, NPR, July 2025
• Also covered in: Television spot with CNN International - Kristie Lu Stout, July 2025
• Also covered in: Trump administration to destroy birth control intended as aid - Maham Javaid, Joyce Sohyun Lee, Meg Kelly, Washington Post, July 2025
• Also covered in: Trump administration destroying birth control: what we know - Jasmine Laws, Newsweek, September 2025
• 'Young women can fall pregnant very easily': inside the wild west of smartphone fertility apps - Shanti Das, The Guardian, January 2025
• Representatives Raskin and Kiley and Senator Wyden Introduce Bill to Protect Free Speech - Caitlin Howard, Protect the Protest, December 2024
• Travails of young girls who sell/donate human eggs to infertile women - Chioma Obinna, Vanguard, June 2024
• The woman who got your best friend pregnant: Taking Charge of Your Fertility is the reproductive manual embraced by both the left and the right - Sara Harrison, The Cut - April 2024 
• Junk science is cited in abortion ban cases. Researchers are fighting the "fatally flawed" work - Jessica Glenza, The Guardian, April 2024
• Science integrity sleuths welcome legal aid fund for whistleblowers - Holly Else, Science, March 2024
• Researchers call for more abortion studies to be retracted - Sofia Resnick, News From the States, February 2024
• Influential abortion pill studies retracted: the science behind the decision - Mariana Lenharo, Nature, February 2024
• Navigating the grey areas of digital fertility technologies: a call for regulation - Mason Walker, Medriva, February 2024 
• The grey area of "fertility tech" being mis-sold as contraception - Mun-Keat Looi, BMJ, February 2024
• What male birth control means for women's health (podcast) - Marissa Plescia, MedCity FemFwd, ​February 2024
• Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menstruation - Jen Gunter, Kensington Books, 2024
• Chelsea Polis: SLAPPed for calling out a tech company's false data claims - Caitlin Howard, Meg Ward, and Mannal Babar, Protect the Protest, November 2023
• 2023 Maddox Prize2023 Maddox Prize announcement - Sense About Science, October 2023
• Meet the winners and shortlist of the 2023 Maddox Prize - Sense about Science, October 2023 
• Chelsea Polis awarded the 2023 John Maddox Prize - Population Council, October 2023
• 2023 Maddox Prize Winners Announced - Velocity of Content, October 2023
• No one gains if social media storms stunt research in contentious areas - Tracey Brown, Times Higher Education, October 2023
• Scientists honoured for facing down lawsuits to reveal findings - Daniel Cressey, Research Professional News, October 2023 
• Scientists under siege - from big pharma, zealots, and even their bosses - Helen Joyce, The Times, October 2023
• The 2023 John Maddox Prize winners: defending science in the face of corporate greed - Tristan Free, BioTechniques, November 2023
• Interview: Dr. Chelsea Polis - The scientific world recognizes when you stick your neck out and do the right thing - Shaoni Bhattacharya, The Guardian, November 2023  
• Row over medical journal's refusal to retract paper used to restrict abortion in US legal cases - Madlen Davies, BMJ, July 2023Also covered in: BBC NewsNight television program - Kate Lamble and Hannah Barnes, BBC, July 2023
• Also covered in: Row over British Journal of Psychiatry abortion paper saw panel quit - Kate Lamble and Hannah Barnes, BBC, July 2023
• Also covered in: BBC Women's Hour radio program (segment at minutes 24-30), July 2023
• Also covered in: Weighing Retracting an Abortion Critic's Work, With Lawyers Involved - Inside Higher Education, Ryan Quinn, July 2023
• Social Media 'Wellness' Influencers Peddle Lies about Birth Control - Garnet Henderson, Rewire, March 2023
• What happens when digital health fails to deliver evidence? A story of accountability with Dr. Chelsea Polis - Aditi Joshi, MDisrupt, March 2023 
• The Contraceptive Headache - Caroline Criado Perez, Visible Women podcast, October 2022 (also available on Spotify)
• Inside Anti-Abortion Groups' Campaign to Sell Women on Unreliable Birth Control "Alternatives" - Kiera Butler, Mother Jones, Sept 2022
• Revisiting abortion and the Turnaway study - Manuel Galvan and Dylan Selterman, A Bit More Complicated Podcast, August 2022
• The Numbers Behind Natural Birth Control - Charlotte McDonald, BBC More or Less podcast, August 2022
• Epidemiologist being sued by a company whose scientific claims she'd criticized - Andrew Gelman, Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science, June 7, 2022
• The Problem with Ricki Lake's 'The Business of Birth Control' - Amy Zimmerman, Rolling Stone, May 2022
• "It's a Wild West": the scientist who took on the multi-billion femtech industry - Emma Haslett, New Statesman, April 2022
• Scientist who criticized claims of a fertility tracker faces defamation suit - Simon Spichak, The Debrief, April 2022
• In a defamation lawsuit, the hype around digital health clashes with scientific criticism - Kate Sheridan & Casey Ross, STAT News, March 2022
• Being denied an abortion has lasting impacts on health and finances - Mariana Lenharo, Scientific American, Dec 2021
• Ghana recorded 200k abortions in 2017 - study - My Joy Online, Sept 2021
• Cost Implication: A major barrier preventing access to fertility treatment and services - This Day Live, Sept 2021
• Viral BS: Medical Myths and Why We Fall for Them - Seema Yasmin, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2021
• Government charged to take steps to reduce burden of unsafe abortion - Eric Nana Yaw Kwafo, Modern Ghana, Oct 2020
• Reducing unsafe abortions, the need for more comprehensive services and care for women - Afedzi Abdullah, Modern Ghana, Sept 2020 
• No One Has To Get Their Period Anymore - Marion Renault, The Atlantic, July 2020
• How 'natural contraception' fights the pill and IUD (in Dutch) - Emma van Meijeren, Vice, Feb 2020
• How Abimbola Ajetomobi's online forum is helping African women deal with infertility - Jonah Nwokpoku, Nigeria Today News, Jan 2020
• Natural Family Planning can be hard and expensive to use. Can new tech help? Simcha Fisher, America Magazine, Jan 2020
• How Faith in Nature's Goodness Leads to Harmful Fads, Unjust Laws, and Flawed Science - Alan Levinovitz, Beacon Press, 2020
• The Left Case for Fertility Awareness - Megan Magray, The Nation, Dec 2019
• The Trump Administration Would Like to Talk to You for a Second About Your Cervical Mucus - Stephanie Mencimer, Mother Jones, Oct 2019
• The Apple watch's next trick could be battling pseudoscience - but questions remain - Victoria Song, Gizmodo, Sept 2019
• Apple stands to revolutionize period tracking - if it doesn't mess it up - Erin Schumaker, OneZero Medium, June 2019
• A $330 Thermometer Claimed to be 99.4% Accurate in Preventing Pregnancy. But The Study it was Based on Just Got Retracted. Stephanie Lee, Buzzfeed, May 2019
• Is Fertility Awareness Contraception Right For You? AA Newton, Lifehacker, April 2019
• Hysterical: Why We Need to Talk About Women, Hormones, and Mental Health - Eleanor Morgan, Seal Press, 2019
• App-propriate Contraception? Ella Whelan, Conscience Magazine, December 2018 
• Natural Family Planning: A good alternative to birth control? - Anna Cherry, HealthyWay, October 2018
• Women are dying from backstreet abortions. But reforms to Malawi's 157-year-old laws are stuck. Lameck Masina, CNN, September 2018
• Why you should not trust fertility apps...yet - Nicole Wetsman, Slate, September 2018
• Controversial contraception app approved in U.S. drawing scrutiny overseas - Kate Sheridan, STAT News, September 2018
• The FDA approved a digital birth control method. Should there be an app for that? - Martha Kempner, Rewire, September 2018
• Malawi: Authorities Optimistic on Enactment of New Abortion Law - Emily Banda, Centre for Solutions Journalism, August 2018
• FDA Stirs Contraception Debate With OK for 'Natural' Birth Control App - Michelle Andrews, NPR, August 2018
• Biorhythms and Birth Control: FDA Stirs Debate By Approving 'Natural' App - Michelle Andrews, Kaiser Health News, August 2018
• Can an App Prevent Pregnancy? - Alexandra Sifferlin, Time, August 2018
• FDA approves 1st birth control app, long-term vaginal contraception ring - Sandee LaMotte,  CNN, August 2018
• Review of Scientific Evidence on Effectiveness of Fertility Awareness-Based Methods for Contraception Underscores Need for Higher Quality Studies - UNC Press Release, August 2018
• Daysy - Truth in Advertising, August 2018
• Is This Trendy $330 Fertility Thermometer a Ripoff? - Dalmeet Singh Chawla, Medium, July 2018
• Segment on fertility awareness-based methods, BBC Radio 5 Live (starts at 1:06:30, lasts ~17 mins) - Stephen Nolan Show, July 2018
• Malawi: Rural women groups in Malawi back proposed abortion law - Akwete Sande, AllAfrica, July 2018
• Nigeria has a high fertility rate. Why are infertility clinics booming? - Joel Budd, The Economist, July 2018
• 'They got it way wrong': Planned Parenthood leads furious criticism of 'medically inaccurate' portrayal of emergency contraception in Jodie Foster-directed Black Mirror episode - Carly Stern, Daily Mail, January 2018
• How abortion is portrayed on TV and in movies actually matters so much - Karen Fratti, Hello Giggles, January 2018
• Removing contraception injection would lead to more deaths - Katharine Child, Times Live South Africa, January 2018
• How controversial science can make it harder to get an abortion - Rebecca Ruiz, Mashable, August 2017
• The New War on Birth Control - Kathryn Joyce, Pacific Standard, August 2017
• US foreign aid cuts could be a 'death sentence' to women in Malawi - CNN, July 2017
• Malawi: Woman recounts how she lost her uterus due to unsafe abortion - CSJ News, May 2017
• Malawi study reveals 141,044 abortions: northern region has more cases - Alfred Chauwa & Maurice Nkawihe, Nyasa Times, April 2017
• Malawi: Activists ask government to enact new abortion law - CSJ News, April 2017
• Clandestine and Unsafe Abortion Common in Malawi - Guttmacher Institute, April 2017
• Estimating Infertility: Conceiving of a New Approach - Global Health NOW, 2017
• Did gender bias derail a potential birth control option for men? - Shefali Luthra, Kaiser Health News, 2016
• Does some birth control raise depression risk? That's complicated - Tara Haelle, NPR, 2016
• Before you freak out about birth control and depression, read this - Seema Yasmin, Dallas Morning News 2016
• Birth control study has people talking about depression - Maggie Fox, Today.com, 2016
• Webinar: An Update on Hormonal Contraception and HIV - AVAC and ICW-EA, 2016
• The tenuous tale of contraceptive hormones and HIV risk - Jason Tetro, Popular Science, 2016
• Oh, that touch of gray: Not black and white—new review of data on DMPA and HIV risk raise “increased concerns” - AVAC, 2016
• Most contraceptives not linked to HIV infection, but Depo-Provera may raise risk - HIVandHepatitis.com, 2016
• ECHO Study @ AIDS 2016: A report from Durban - ECHO study, 2016 
• Handful of nations see many unintended pregnancies despite sex with contraception - Thompson Reuters Foundation News, 2016
• New study estimates contraceptive failure in 43 countries - Health News Digest, 2016
• A slippery situation on lube - Shawna Scott, Sex Siopa, 2016
• My Love/Hate relationship with Twitter, and why you should have one, too - Lucy Wilson, K4Health, 2016
• ​Sex bloggers are taking a stand against a new lube that claims to protect users from STIs - Kate Sloan, Plaid Zebra, 2016
• The complicated science behind when babies are conceived - Beth Skwarecki, Vitals, 2016
• Conversation with Alumna Chelsea Polis, PhD (pages 13-16) - Bob Blum, PRFH Newsletter, JHSPH, 2015
• What Causes Infertility? Learn The Truth Behind These 8 Common Myths - Elli Thompson Purtell, Bustle, 2015
• 29 reasons you should be a scientist - Natasha Umer, Buzzfeed, 2015
• Scientists share inspiration on Twitter with #IAmAScientistBecause and #BeyondMarieCurie - Chris Woolston, Nature, 2015
• Depot medroxyprogesterone contraception may increase HIV risk - Will Boggs, Reuters Health, 2015
• Why isn't sex ed preparing students for adulthood? - Beth Skwarecki, PLoS Blogs, 2015
• The Lancet Done Screwed Up - PZ Myers, ScienceBlogs, 2014
• Will we ever know if this widely-used contraceptive increases the risk of HIV infection? - Arielle Duhaime-Ross, The Verge, 2014
• Data mixed on increased risk of HIV in women using contraceptive shots - Contraceptive Technology Update, 2014
• Advocates Call for Full Funding of Research on HIV and Contraception - RH RealityCheck, 2014
• ECHO-ing debates: Ongoing advocacy related to hormonal contraception and HIV - AVAC, 2014
• Special issue explores trends related to unmet need for contraception - News Medical Net, 2014
• Ricki Lake And The Rise Of The Birth Control Truthers - Tara Culp-Ressler, ThinkProgress, 2014
• Family Planning: A Cornerstone of Health for HIV-affected Families - Michelle Betton, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, 2014
• Do you know where your eggs are? - (pages 196-201) Sarah Elizabeth Richards, Cosmopolitan Magazine, 2013
• Contraceptive injections and HIV infection risk – a public health conundrum - Roger Peabody, NAM AIDSMAP, 2013
• Hormonal Contraception + HIV + Limited Data = “A Public Health Conundrum” - Antigone Barton, ScienceSpeaks, 2013
• Review sees little risk of HIV progression with hormonal agents - Mark Mascolini, International AIDS Society, 2013
• Type of Injectable Contraception May Be Linked to Acquiring HIV - Caroline Newburgh, Public Health Institute, 2013
• New Hormonal Contraception/HIV Brief from USAID - K4Health, 2013
• Young People Totally Think They're Infertile - Anna North, Jezebel, 2012
• Many young people think they can't get pregnant: study - Adriana Barton, The Globe and Mail, 2012
• AIDS 2012: Does Hormonal Contraception Increase the Risk of HIV Infection? - Gus Cairns, HIVandHepatitis.com, 2012
• Hormonal Contraception and the Risk of HIV Acquisition - Polly Clayden, The Body Pro, 2012
• USAID Epidemiologist Commentary on Hormonal Contraception and HIV - USAID, 2012
• What’s The Real Story On Emergency Contraception? - Amie Newman, RH RealityCheck, 2010
• Study: morning-after pill doesn’t reduce unwanted pregnancy - Eben Harrell, Time Magazine, 2010
• Stash of Morning-After Pills May Not Reduce Pregnancies - Philip Graitcer, Voice of America, 2010
• Giving women a morning-after pill stash 'doesn't work' - BBC News, 2010
• Podcast on advance provision of emergency contraception - Cochrane Library, 2010
• CROI: Contraception Affirmed Safe in HIV - Crystal Phend, MedPage Today, 2010
• Contraceptives don't hasten HIV progression - and may protect against it - Reuters Health, 2009
• Are Hormonal Contraceptives Safe for HIV+ Women? - Christine Grillo, International Conference on Family Planning blog, 2009
• Studying the truth about consequences (on abortion and mental health) - Susan Reimer, Balitmore Sun, 2008
• Study examines effect of advance access to emergency contraception - Tracy Hampton, JAMA Medical News, 2007
• Study: Pregnancy Numbers Remain Steady After Easier Access to Morning-After Pill - Salynn Boyles, WebMD, 2007​