Cathren Cohen is a Staff Attorney at the CRHLP. Prior to joining UCLA, Cathren was a Staff Attorney at the National Health Law Program and a Law Fellow with Lambda Legal’s Youth in Out-of-Home Care Project.

Areas of expertise

• Abortion rights and access, including medication abortion and state laws
• Pharmacy-based access to contraception
• Minor’s rights and adolescent access to reproductive health care
• All-trimester abortion care
• Intersection of reproductive and LGBTQ rights

Most relevant media appearances

• KCAL News (CBS): Roe v. Wade Overturned: One Year Later with Attorney Cathren Cohen (June 23, 2023)
  • Discussion of legal landscape of abortion rights on the one year anniversary of the Dobbs decision.
• Daily Beast:Overturning ‘Roe’ Is Just the Latest Attack on LGBTQ People (June 24, 2022)
  • Authored op-ed published the day the Dobbs decision was released describing implications for LGBTQ rights.
• Elite Daily: Your IUD Might Be At Risk As Abortion Rights Disappear (July 26, 2022)
  • Quoted about how anti-abortion laws often use overly broad and medically inaccurate definitions that could put some forms of birth control at risk.

Most influential academic work

• Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health: Amicus Brief of Over 300 Reproductive Health Researchers Supports Mifepristone’s Safety and Effectiveness
  • CRHLP authored an amicus brief on behalf of over 300 reproductive health experts that was submitted to the Supreme Court in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, the case challenging several FDA regulations which made access to mifepristone less restrictive. The amicus brief detailed the strong empirical record that FDA relied on to develop the new regulations. The amicus brief was then published in a scientific journal to chronicle the strong evidence for less restrictive regulations on mifepristone and the strong support for such regulations among experts.
• JAMA Network Open: Willingness of Pharmacists to Prescribe Medication Abortion in California
  • Survey of licensed pharmacists working in California demonstrated that 69% of surveyed pharmacists would be willing to prescribe medication abortion is permitted by law, however training would be needed. Post-Dobbs, pharmacies are an increasingly important point of service for reproductive health care as current providers are overwhelmed and more people travel to California for care. Our research provides support for future legislative efforts to expand pharmacist prescribing to include medication abortion.
• Barriers to Minor Access to Emergency Contraception in California Pharmacies
  • Our research team surveyed California-licensed pharmacists about the practices regarding minors and found that only half (53%) of surveyed pharmacists reported that minors could purchase emergency contraception at their pharmacies, despite minors in California having a right to consent to such treatment. As a result of this publication, Governor Gavin Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a series of alerts and notices to all Board of Pharmacy licensees, all commercial health plans, major pharmacy chains, consumers, and California pharmacies reminding them of the law and reaffirming minors’ right to access contraceptive care, including emergency contraception.
  • Government press release