{"id":324249,"date":"2025-01-10T16:42:35","date_gmt":"2025-01-10T22:42:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=324249"},"modified":"2025-01-13T12:30:18","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T18:30:18","slug":"what-telehealth-chat-study-prove-cant-trusted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/what-telehealth-chat-study-prove-cant-trusted\/","title":{"rendered":"What the popular telehealth abortion ‘CHAT’ study claims to prove — and why it can’t be trusted"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When certain studies are repeatedly cited as evidence for the alleged safety or benefits of abortion, it is always important to pay attention to the details.\u00a0It is not unusual for those who make their living committing abortions to author these studies.<\/p>\n

It’s also not unusual for those studies, regardless of flawed methodology or conflicts of interest, to be cited again and again… and again<\/em>…\u00a0 as supposed “proof” that abortion doesn’t do any<\/em> harm to anyone<\/em>, ever, and that virtually no<\/em> woman ever<\/em> regrets it<\/a> (unless she suffers from mental illness which, of course, is never<\/em> connected to the abortion) and only suffers if she cannot<\/em> get access to abortion<\/a>. (You get the idea.)<\/p>\n

The CHAT study (an acronym for the “California Home Abortion by Telehealth” Study) is one of those studies that has been cited multiple times by the media and portrayed as a solid study showing the safety of telehealth abortion. Yet, those overseeing the study have been funded by investors in the manufacturer of the abortion pill \u2014 leaving some to question the reliability of the study, which was reportedly completed<\/a> in 2023. But the CHAT study has even bigger issues than this.<\/p>\n

What is the CHAT study?<\/strong><\/p>\n

CHAT is described as a “patient-centered, clinically supported, prospective study among people in the United States seeking medication abortion” which “aims to build the evidence-base for safely expanding access to medication abortion by mail using a simple online or phone app-based telemedicine model.” The study website<\/a> claims that “CHAT is the first study-of-its-kind in the U.S. that will evaluate abortion medication by mail without the need for a doctor\u2019s visit or ultrasound.”<\/p>\n

The clinical trial website for the study<\/a> also claims that the researchers<\/a> aimed to “reach a diverse sample of medication abortion patients across the country in states where care is provided including California, New York, and Washington…” and the study donation page<\/a> claims, “In our first year, we\u2019ve expanded beyond California to include the evaluation of telehealth medication abortion across 21 states.”<\/p>\n

At one time, the CHAT study was even recruiting<\/a>\u00a0\u201cfemales ages 13 years and up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Image:<\/p>\n

UCSF abortion pill study 66K chemical abortions in California a year recruits girls as young as 13<\/p>\n

CHAT Study Sponsors and Investigators<\/strong><\/p>\n

Online<\/a>, the CHAT study claims to be “[l]ed by [University of California San Francisco] UCSF’s Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health<\/a> (ANSIRH) in partnership with California Latinas for Reproductive Justice (CLRJ).”<\/p>\n

It is no secret<\/a> that\u00a0original investors<\/a> in abortion pill manufacturer Danco Laboratories<\/a> have\u00a0invested<\/a> and funded<\/a> the University of California<\/a> (UC) system \u2014 namely,<\/a> the David and Lucile Packard Foundation<\/a>, the Buffett Foundation<\/a>, and billionaire\u00a0George Soros<\/a>\u2018 Open Society Foundations.<\/p>\n