We'll be at PRIM&R later this week presenting a poster on this work. Stop by and chat if you'll be in Baltimore! (6/6)

We call on IRBs to revise their policies, recognizing the need for special ethical and regulatory protections when conducting research with pregnant people without resorting to language that casts aspersions on their capacity for decision making about research participation. (5/6)

We explored the extent to which IRBs have updated their policies to no longer characterize pregnant people as a "vulnerable" group, consistent with this change. We found that 72.9% of top research institutions in our sample (n=48) still described pregnant people as vulnerable. (4/6)

In the 2018 revisions to the Common Rule, pregnant people were removed from the list of "vulnerable" groups in response to longstanding scholarly critique about the need to recognize their capability to make informed decisions about their participation in research. (3/6)

Pregnant people have long been excluded from clinical trials — which has resulted in a critical evidence gap regarding the safe and effective delivery of their clinical care. This exclusion has also denied pregnant people potential benefits of research, and underrepresented their interests. (2/6)