The Affordable Care Act (ACA), signed into law in 2010 and fully implemented in 2014, requires both public and private insurers to cover a minimum of ten essential health benefits for their policyholders, including ambulatory patient services, emergency services, hospitalization, maternal & newborn care, mental health & substance disorder services, prescription drugs, rehabilitative & habilitative services & devices, laboratory services, preventive & wellness services & chronic disease management, and pediatric services for oral and vision care. Additionally, the benefits of contraceptives and breastfeeding coverage must be provided, though anomalies to this rule exist. While these requirements cover an extensive range of care, some gender-specific health benefits are exempt from obligatory coverage, leaving the issue of mandated coverage to the states. Given that women’s and transgender healthcare has been historically overlooked and highly politicized, it is crucial to examine whether the representation of marginalized identities in state legislatures influences the adoption of mandatory insurance coverage laws for gender-specific healthcare. Studying the effects of representation can help foster a more inclusive and fair policy system by promoting accountability and equity to address the systemic neglect of these issues. To answer this question, state-level insurance mandates for contraceptives, abortion, fertility treatments, vasectomies, erectile dysfunction, prostate cancer screenings, gender-affirming surgery, and transgender hormone therapy were compiled and analyzed to examine the relationship between the gender composition of a state’s legislature and the passing of these policies.

The 2022 midterm election introduced six proposals addressing the constitutional protection of abortion, three of which were approved by voters in California, Michigan, and Vermont. These states were the first to establish the right to abortion post-Dobbs v. Jackson, which exonerated protections under the 14th Amendment’s implied right to privacy. Out of these states, Michigan’s notability stems from its swinging electoral partisanship, as observed in the 2016 and 2020 elections, in which abortion was a focal point. The Pew Research Center's Religious Landscape Study (2007-2014) surveyed over 35,000 Americans on their religious affiliations, beliefs, practices, and social and political views, providing critical insights into demographic opinions on abortion legalization in Michigan. Using the State of the State Survey (SOSS) of 2022, this study adopts a similar analytical approach to investigate the intersectionality of voting behavior, legal perspectives, self-identification, and associated demographics, including sex, generation, education, race, religion, political party, and political ideology. Quantitative analysis using R examines the frequency, proportion, and average of each demographic subgroup’s responses regarding abortion opinion and Michigan’s Proposal 3 of 2022. This analysis hypothesizes that anti-abortion sentiment is most prevalent among Christian conservative Republicans born in the silent generation, while supportive attitudes are found amongst all other measured demographics. By comparing these results with other electoral outcomes, hypotheses can be formulated about the demographic groups in Michigan likely to have supported or opposed Proposal 3 and the real-world impacts of these trends.

The Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson decision and subsequent overturning of Roe v. Wade has led to an increase in states introducing and implementing policies restricting abortion access nationwide. Now that this issue lies within state jurisdiction, sixteen have introduced bans between the time of conception and six weeks. 2014 research from Guttmacher Institute revealed that three out of four abortion patients were considered low income, meaning individuals in states with restrictive legislation are now at an elevated risk of carrying an unwanted pregnancy compared to before the Dobbs ruling. The Hyde Amendment of 1977 prohibits the federal funding of abortions for any reason other than rape, incest, or life endangerment, which further exacerbates this inaccessibility. In this project, state policy bans introduced post-Dobbs were examined in order to determine which states implemented restrictions. Eight types were identified, falling under pre-roe, trigger, gestational, viability, method, reason, Texas SB8 copycat, and total bans. Further analysis of these bans revealed three of them to pose the most restrictions to abortion access, those being total, trigger, and Texas SB8 copycat bans. These policies contribute to the increasing criminalization and inaccessibility for abortion care.

The Correlates of State Policy Project aims to compile, disseminate, and encourage the use of data relevant to U.S. state policy research, tracking policy differences across the 50 states and changes over time. We have gathered more than 3000 variables from various sources and assembled them into one large, useful dataset. We hope this project will become a “one-stop shop” for academics, policy analysts, students, and researchers looking for variables germane to the study of state policies and politics.

In keeping with the mission of IPPSR, this project documents, updates, and distributes various datasets germane to research on pressing public policy issues. IPPSR is committed to research transparency, replication, and data reliability. These cross-state and cross-time datasets are free and publicly available for academics, policy analysts, students, policymakers, and the research community. We welcome notification of any errors, comments, and contributions of additional datasets.

Class project focused on educating local youth in political engagement and participation through a website modeled after the Detroit Citzens Manual. The project includes sections covering Lansing's political and social history, the local government, civic and political participation, and youth leadership and engagement.