This guidance document provides SRH researchers, IRBs, and funders with knowledge and tools for the appropriate inclusion of minor adolescents in sexual and reproductive health research, urging against using age 18 as a cutoff for research inclusion.
The authors urge researchers to avoid using age 18 as a blanket cutoff for research inclusion in sexual and reproductive health studies.
The document identifies specific consent and confidentiality mechanisms available to researchers when including minor adolescents in SRH research.
The guidance document defines routine clinical care for adolescent minors to assist IRBs and researchers in determining minimal risk research classifications.
The authors promote a research consent environment that accounts for developmental capacity for understanding research participation among adolescent minors.
The inclusion of adolescent minors in SRH research is described as crucial for promoting health equity and reproductive justice.
This research suggests that excluding teenagers under 18 from sexual and reproductive health (SRH) research simply because they are minors is both scientifically and ethically problematic. In many U.S. states and other jurisdictions, young people under 18 already have the legal right to consent to their own sexual and reproductive health care — such as contraception, STI testing, or pregnancy-related services — without needing a parent's permission. The authors argue that this same principle should apply to research participation, and that researchers and ethics review boards need better guidance on how to appropriately include this age group. The document outlines practical tools and frameworks that researchers and Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) can use to ethically include minor adolescents in SRH studies. These include mechanisms like waivers of parental consent, waivers of signed consent, and Certificates of Confidentiality, which can protect young participants' privacy when parental involvement could discourage participation or cause harm. The guidance also addresses how to assess research risk levels and how to consider teenagers' developmental ability to understand and consent to research participation. This research suggests that failing to include adolescents in SRH research leaves a critical gap in the evidence base for healthcare that directly affects them. When minors are excluded from studies on contraception, STIs, or reproductive health services, the resulting medical guidance may not reflect the realities of adolescent health needs, potentially worsening health disparities. The authors frame appropriate inclusion of minor adolescents in SRH research as a matter of health equity and reproductive justice.
Baldwin M, Bell A, Hoopes A, Narasimhan S, Ott M. (2025). Society of Family Planning Research Practice Support: Researcher and institutional review board considerations for sexual and reproductive health research with minor adolescents.. Contraception. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.contraception.2025.110935