Potter

Joseph E. Potter

Professor of Sociology and Faculty Research Associate, University of Texas at Austin
Areas of Expertise:

Connect with Joseph

(512) 471-8341

About Joseph

Potter’s interests surround the areas of reproductive health, population and development, and demographic estimation. Since the Fall of 2011, he as been leading an eight-year project—The Texas Policy Evaluation Project (TxPEP)—to evaluate the impact of legislation enacted by the Texas Legislature affecting both funding for family planning and access to abortion care. Earlier, Potter was Principle Investigator of the Border Contraceptive Access Study (BCAS), an NICHD funded project on oral contraceptive use along the US-Mexico border in El-Paso, Texas. 

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | In the News | Publications

Contributions

Many Low Income Women in Texas Do Not Get the Effective Contraception They Want after Giving Birth

  • Kate Coleman-Minahan
  • Kari White
  • Daniel A. Powers
  • Chloe Dillaway
  • Amanda Stevenson
  • Kristine Hopkins
  • Daniel Grossman
Key Findings Brief,

In the News

Opinion: "Texas Disaster Highlights Big Problem with Defunding Planned Parenthood," Kari White (with Joseph E. Potter), Waco Tribune-Herald, February 11, 2017.
Opinion: "Defunding Planned Parenthood was a Disaster in Texas. Congress Shouldn’t Do it Nationally," Kari White (with Joseph E. Potter), The Washington Post, February 7, 2017.
Research discussed by Richard Mark Kirkner, in "Texas a Test for Defunding of Planned Parenthood," Managed Care, February 1, 2017.
Research discussed by Laura Kurtzman, in "Official Abortion Rate Declined in Texas after Law Restricted Access to Clinics," ScienceDaily, January 19, 2017.
Opinion: "Long Acting and Reversible Contraception," Kari White (with Joseph E. Potter), The Weekend, November 5, 2016.
Opinion: "Restore Family Planning Services to Reduce Maternal Mortality Rate," Kari White (with Joseph E. Potter), My San Antonio, September 5, 2016.
Opinion: "Health Cuts by Legislature Have Made Texas Childbirth Riskier," Kari White (with Joseph E. Potter), The Waco Tribune-Herald, August 30, 2016.
Opinion: "Misinformation Skews Public Support for Abortion Laws," Kari White (with Joseph E. Potter), The Houston Chronicle, May 19, 2016.

Publications

"Nativity, Country of Education, and Mexican-Origin Women’s Breastfeeding Behaviors: The First Ten Months Postpartum" (with C. Emily Hendrick). Birth 44, no. 1 (2017): 68-77.

Finds that women completing schooling in Mexico had higher rates of overall breastfeeding throughout the study period than women educated in the United States, regardless of country of birth, and that women born in Mexico who completed their schooling in the United States were least likely to exclusively breastfeed.

"Change in Distance to Nearest Facility and Abortion in Texas, 2012 to 2014" (with Daniel Grossman, Kristine Hopkins, and Joseph E. Potter). JAMA 317, no. 4 (2017): 437-439.

Finds that, following the 2013 Texas House Bill 2, one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country, the number of Texas facilities providing abortions declined from 41 in 2012 to 17 in June 2016.

"Women’s Knowledge of and Support for Abortion Restrictions in Texas: Findings from a Statewide Representative Survey" (with Joseph E. Potter, Amanda Stevenson, Kristine Hopkins, Daniel Grossman, and Liza Fuentes). Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health 48, no. 4 (2016).

Assesses women’s knowledge of specific abortion restrictions in Texas and reasons for supporting these laws. 

"Perceived Interest in Vasectomy among Latina Women and Their Partners in a Community with Limited Access to Female Sterilization" (with Daniel Grossman, Joseph E. Potter, Kristine Hopkins, and Celia Hubert). Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved 27, no. 2 (2016): 762-777.

Assesses male partners’ perceived willingness to undergo vasectomy through surveys with 470 Mexican-origin women who did not want more children in El Paso, Texas.