Women, Gender, and Sex

Vithai Zaraunkar Once my professor at Goa University said to me that I had changed a lot. “You were so quiet, seated on the last bench in the class, afraid to be noticed by teachers. You are not the same Vithai I met five years ago. Do you think you have changed?” I thought for a bit and replied

This blog post highlights community-led approaches to data collection on sexual and gender-based violence in the United States.

"This edition strives to give a comprehensive view of the entire subject of abortion-safety, morality, legality, accessibility, human rights and freedoms, reproductive justice, and a host of other issues as it relates to ongoing public policy"--

From a decidedly left-of-center perspective, the author discusses how law and public policy grapple with the differences between genders while simultaneously struggling to maintain a commitment to equal treatment under the law. The book consists of previously published general audience articles that are both provocative and newsworthy.

In January 1973, the Supreme Court's opinion in Roe v. Wade struck down most of the country's abortion laws, and held for the first time that women had a constitutional right to safe and legal abortions. Three decades later, Roe v. Wade remains one of the Supreme Court's most controversial decisions, and political struggles over abortion rights still divide American politics. Roe has emerged as a central issue in federal judicial nominations, becoming a powerful symbol in debates about judicial restraint, judicial activism, and the proper role of courts in a democratic society. In What Roe v. Wade Should Have Said, eleven distinguished constitutional scholars rewrite the opinions in this landmark case in light of thirty years of experience but making use only of sources available at the time of the original decision. Taking positions both for and against the constitutional right to abortion, the contributors offer novel and illuminating arguments that get to the heart of this fascinating case. In addition, Jack Balkin gives a detailed introduction to Roe v. Wade, chronicling the history of the Roe litigation, the constitutional and political clashes that followed it, and the state of abortion rights in the U.S. today. Contributing their versions of Roe are: Anita Allen, Akhil Amar, Jack M. Balkin, Teresa Stanton Collett, Michael Stokes Paulsen, Jeffrey Rosen, Jed Rubenfeld, Reva Siegel, Cass Sunstein, Mark Tushnet, and Robin West.

"At the turn of the twentieth century, American women began to reject Victorian propriety in favor of passion and livelihood outside the home. This alarmed authorities, who feared certain "over-sexed" women could destroy civilization if allowed to reproduce and pass on their defects. Set against this backdrop, THE UNFIT HEIRESS chronicles the fight for inheritance, both genetic and monetary, between Ann Cooper Hewitt and her mother Maryon. In 1934, aided by a California eugenics law, the socialite Maryon Cooper Hewitt had her "promiscuous" daughter declared feebleminded and sterilized without her knowledge. She did this to deprive Ann of millions of dollars from her father's estate, which contained a child-bearing stipulation. When a sensational court case ensued, the American public was captivated. So were eugenicists, who saw an opportunity to restrict reproductive rights in America for decades to come. This riveting story unfolds through the brilliant research of Audrey Clare Farley, who captures the interior lives of these women on the pages and poses questions that remain relevant today: What does it mean to be "unfit" for motherhood? In the battle for reproductive rights, can we forgive the women who side against us? And can we forgive our mothers if they are the ones who inflict the deepest wounds?"--

Using historical research, original organizational case studies, and personal interviews, the authors illuminate how women of color have led the fight to control their own bodies and reproductive destinies.

"Few Supreme Court decisions have stirred up as much controversy, vitriolic debate, and even violence as the one delivered in Roe v. Wade in 1973. Almost five decades later, it remains a touchstone for the culture wars in the United States and a pivot upon which much of our politics turns. N. E. H. Hull and Peter Charles Hoffer have taken stock of the abortion debates, controversies, and cases that have emerged in recent years in order to update their bestselling book on this landmark case. As with the first two editions, the book details the case's historical background; highlights Roe v. Wade's core issues, essential personalities, and key precedents; tracks the case's path through the courts; clarifies the jurisprudence behind the court's ruling in Roe; assesses the impact of the presidential elections of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, along with the confirmations of Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Samuel Alito, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor; and gauges its impact on American society and subsequent challenges to it in Webster v. Reproductive Services (1989), Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), and Gonzales v. Carhart (2007). The new edition, however, adds two completely new chapters covering abortion politics and legal battles in Obama's second term and Donald J. Trump's first term. The new material covers two important cases in detail, Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt (2016) and June Medical Services, LLC v. Russo (2020). The cases dealt with state laws-Texas and Louisiana, respectively-designed to limit access to abortion by requiring doctors performing abortions to have admission privileges at a state-authorized hospital within 30 miles of the abortion clinic. In both cases the Court ruled the laws unconstitutional, thus handing the abortion rights activists key victories in the face of an increasingly conservative Court. The new chapters also cover the confirmations of Justices Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh, as well as the heated po litical environment surrounding the Court in the age of Trump"--

From the back-alley clinics of illegal abortionists to the behind-the scene deliberations of the Supreme Court justices, Roe v. Wade is a riveting history of the thorniest ethical debate ever brought before the Supreme Court. this is the bull story behind the struggle of two lawyers, Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee and their unwed, unemployed, pregnant client Norma McCorvey. In this updated edition Faux details recent challengesand erosions to the decision--including parental consent laws and bans on partial-birth abortions--and illuminates how the ruling has impacted public attitudes and policy.

"How did reproductive justice (defined as the right to have children, to not have children, and to parent) become recognized as a human rights issue? In [this book] Zakiya Luna highlights the often-forgotten activism of women of color who are largely responsible for creating what we now know as the modern-day reproductive justice movement. Focusing on SisterSong, an intersectional reproductive justice organization, Luna shows how, and why, women of color mobilized around reproductive rights in the domestic arena. She examines their key role in re-framing reproductive rights as human rights, raising this set of issues as a priority in the United States, a country hostile to the concept of human rights at home"--

"This book tells the movement and litigation stories behind important reproductive rights and justice cases. The twelve chapters span topics including contraception, abortion, pregnancy, and assisted reproductive technologies, telling the stories of these cases using a wide-lens perspective that illuminates the complex ways law is debated and forged--in social movements, in representative government, and in courts. Some of the chapters shed new light on cases that are very much part of the constitutional law canon--Griswold v. Connecticut, Roe v. Wade, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Nevada Department of Human Resources v. Hibbs. Others introduce the reader to new cases from state and lower federal courts that illuminate paths not taken in the law. Reading the cases together highlights the lived horizon in which individuals have encountered and struggled with questions of reproductive rights and justice at different eras in our nation's history--and so reveals the many faces of law and legal change."--

"Reproductive Justice is a first-of-its-kind primer providing a comprehensive yet succinct description of the field. Written by two legendary scholar-activists, Reproductive Justice introduces students to an intersectional analysis of race, class, and gender politics. Clearly showing how reproductive justice is a political movement of reproductive rights and social justice, the authors illuminate how, for example, a low-income, physically -disabled woman, living in West Texas with no viable public transportation, no healthcare clinic, and no living-wage employment opportunities, faces a complex web of structural obstacles as she contemplates her sexual and reproductive intentions. Putting the lives and lived experience of women of color at the center of the book, and using a human rights analysis, the authors show how reproductive justice is significantly different from the pro-choice/anti-abortion debates that have long-dominated the headlines and mainstream political conflict. In a period in which women's reproductive lives are imperiled, Reproductive Justice provides an essential guide to understanding and mobilizing around women's rights in the 21st century. Reproductive Justice: A New Vision for the 21st Century Series publishes works that explore the contours and content of reproductive justice. The series will include primers intended for students and those new to reproductive justice as well as books of original research to continue to further knowledge and impact society."--Provided by publisher.

"'Reproductive Injustice: Racism, Pregnancy, and Premature Birth' explores the issues of racism, medicine, and motherhood"--;A troubling study of the role that medical racism plays in the lives of black women who have given birth to premature and low birth weight infants. -- Provided by publisher.;Black women have higher rates of premature birth than other women in America. This cannot be simply explained by economic factors, with poorer women lacking resources or access to care. Even professional, middle-class black women are at a much higher risk of premature birth than low-income white women in the United States. Da'na-Ain Davis looks into this phenomenon, placing racial differences in birth outcomes into a historical context, revealing that ideas about reproduction and race today have been influenced by the legacy of ideas which developed during the era of slavery. While poor and low-income black women are often the "mascots" of premature birth outcomes, this book focuses on professional black women, who are just as likely to give birth prematurely. Drawing on an impressive array of interviews with nearly fifty mothers, fathers, neonatologists, nurses, midwives, and reproductive justice advocates, Da'na-Ain Davis argues that events leading up to an infant's arrival in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), and the parents' experiences while they are in the NICU, reveal subtle but pernicious forms of racism that confound the perceived class dynamics that are frequently understood to be a central factor of premature birth. The book argues not only that medical racism persists and must be considered when examining adverse outcomes--as well as upsetting experiences for parents--but also that NICUs and life-saving technologies should not be the only strategies for improving the outcomes for black pregnant women and their babies. Davis makes the case for other avenues, such as community-based birthing projects, doulas, and midwives, that support women during pregnancy and labor are just as important and effective in avoiding premature births and mortality. -- Provided by publisher.

Shows how reproductive justice organizations' collaborative work across racial lines provides a compelling model for other groups to successfully influence change Patricia Zavella experienced firsthand the trials and judgments imposed on a working professional mother of color: her own commitment to academia was questioned during her pregnancy, as she was shamed for having children "too young." And when she finally achieved her professorship, she felt out of place as one of the few female faculty members with children. These experiences sparked Zavella's interest in the movement for reproductive justice. In this book, she draws on five years of ethnographic research to explore collaborations among women of color engaged in reproductive justice activism. While there are numerous organizations focused on reproductive justice, most are racially specific, such as the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum and Black Women for Wellness. Yet Zavella reveals that many of these organizations have built coalitions among themselves, sharing resources and supporting each other through different campaigns and struggles. While the coalitions are often regional--or even national--the organizations themselves remain racially or ethnically specific, presenting unique challenges and opportunities for the women involved. Zavella argues that these organizations provide a compelling model for negotiating across differences within constituencies. In the context of the war on women's reproductive rights and its disproportionate effect on women of color, and increased legal violence toward immigrants, The Movement for Reproductive Justice demonstrates that a truly intersectional movement built on grassroots organizing, culture shift work, and policy advocating can offer visions of strength, resiliency, and dignity for all.

"In this book, the authors explore the many ways that menstruation makes a difference in law and life in the United States. The book looks at cultural attitudes toward menstruation, the tampon tax, the need for accessible products in schools, prisons, and other public buildings, employment discrimination matters, health and environmental concerns, the complex market for menstrual products, and the ways similar issues at the intersection of menstruation and law arise in other countries. This book asks what the law currently says about menstruation (spoiler alert: not much, at least not explicitly) and lays out concrete suggestions for legal reform. The authors aim to transform the law and society so that every person can participate fully in all aspects of public and private life, without regard to the involuntary biological process of menstruation"-- Provided by publisher

It is time, forty years after Roe v. Wade, to finally demystify abortion. One-third of all American women will have an abortion by the time they are forty-five, and most will already be mothers when they do so. Yet the topic remains taboo. With this book, the author, a women's health advocate and writer identified as a leading pro-choice activist by Newsweek magazine, offers an antidote to the usual abortion debate. Involving issues of autonomy, privacy, and sexuality, the abortion debate remains ground zero for the culture wars in America. Yet there is more common ground than meets the eye, when so many American women of all political stripes have already chosen to have abortions and most want that choice protected. This book covers "abortion-recovery counseling," "crisis pregnancy centers," and the infamous anti-choice "black children are an endangered species" billboards; describes health care providers whose lives are threatened in this stigmatized field; outlines the outrageous legislative battles that have popped up all over the country; and takes to task pro-choice activists for allowing the terms of the debate to be controlled by anti-choice rhetoric (such as the term "pro-life"). The author returns the conversation to its rightful place, asserting abortion, unabashedly, as a moral and fundamental human right. -- From back cover.

Reports on the Supreme Court's most divisive case, Roe v. Wade, and the unknown lives at its heart.;"Despite her famous pseudonym, "Jane Roe," no one knows the truth about Norma McCorvey (1947-2017), whose unwanted pregnancy in 1969 opened a great fracture in American life. Journalist Joshua Prager spent hundreds of hours with Norma, discovered her personal papers--a previously unseen trove--and witnessed her final moments. The Family Roe presents her life in full. Propelled by the crosscurrents of sex and religion, gender and class, it is a life that tells the story of abortion in America." -- Inside front jacket flap.

Thomas Byers Memorial Outstanding Publication Award from the University of Akron Law Alumni Association Much has been written about women's rights pioneer Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Historians have written her biography, detailed her campaign for woman's suffrage, documented her partnership with Susan B. Anthony, and compiled all of her extensive writings and papers. Stanton herself was a prolific author; her autobiography, History of Woman Suffrage, and Woman's Bible are classics. Despite this body of work, scholars and feminists continue to find new and insightful ways to re-examine Stanton and her impact on women's rights and history. Law scholar Tracy A. Thomas extends this discussion of Stanton's impact on modern-day feminism by analyzing her intellectual contributions to--and personal experiences with--family law. Stanton's work on family issues has been overshadowed by her work (especially with Susan B. Anthony) on woman's suffrage. But throughout her fifty-year career, Stanton emphasized reform of the private sphere of the family as central to achieving women's equality. By weaving together law, feminist theory, and history, Thomas explores Stanton's little-examined philosophies on and proposals for women's equality in marriage, divorce, and family, and reveals that the campaigns for equal gender roles in the family that came to the fore in the 1960s and '70s had nineteenth-century roots. Using feminist legal theory as a lens to interpret Stanton's political, legal, and personal work on the family, Thomas argues that Stanton's positions on divorce, working mothers, domestic violence, childcare, and many other topics were strikingly progressive for her time, providing significant parallels from which to gauge the social and legal policy issues confronting women in marriage and the family today.

"From the shutdown of Planned Parenthood clinics and the rising rates of HIV to anti-marriage equality and bathroom bills, the New South is the epicenter of the new sex wars. Issues of reproductive freedom, HIV/AIDS, partner rights and transgender rights reveal a new and unacknowledged era of southern reconstruction centered on gender and sexuality. In A Dirty South Manifesto, L.H. Stallings confronts us with the roots of this radical sexual resistance in the New South, one that is anti-racist, decolonial, and transnational. For people within these economically disenfranchised segments of society, the sexually and gender marginalized, and the racially oppressed, the south has been a sexual dystopia. Throughout this short book, Stallings offers several hard-hitting manifestos for the new sex wars. With her focus on black, contemporary southern life, Stallings offers a calling for anyone who has ever imagined a way of living beyond white supremacist heteropatriarchy"--Provided by publisher.

How the fear of malpractice affects mothers and reproductive choices Giving birth is a monumental event, not only in the personal life of the woman giving birth, but as a medical process and procedure. In The Business of Birth, Louise Marie Roth explores the process of giving birth, and the ways in which medicine and law interact to shape maternity care. Focusing on the United States, Roth explores how the law creates an environment where medical providers, malpractice attorneys, and others limit women's rights and choices during birth. She shows how a fear of liability risk often drives the decision-making process of medical providers, who prioritize hospital efficiency over patient safety, to the detriment of mothers themselves. Ultimately, Roth advocates for an approach that protects the reproductive rights of mothers. A comprehensive overview, The Business of Birth provides valuable insight into the impact of the law on mothers, medical providers, maternity care practices, and others in the United States.

More than four decades into the culture wars, Roe v. Wade has become shorthand for the American abortion debate. Rights to Privacy: The Forgotten Legacy of Roe v. Wade illuminates an entirely different and unexpected legacy of America's most controversial Supreme Court decision. Drawing on archives and extensive interviews with key participants, Rights to Privacy opens a window onto an intense debate about the right to privacy that continues to this day. In the 1970s and beyond, activists set out bold ideas about government responsibility, sexual consent, consumer rights, digital data, individual identity, and end-of-life care. These unanticipated visions of a right to choose gradually (but never completely) gave way to a more limited freedom from government. Ziegler captures the rise of contemporary ideas about privacy, all the while explaining the continuing hold that this right--and Roe--have on the public imagination.--

Forty years after the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision legalizing abortion, Roe v. Wade continues to make headlines. After Roe: The Lost History of the Abortion Debate cuts through the myths and misunderstandings to present a clear-eyed account of cultural and political responses to the landmark 1973 ruling in the decade that followed. The grassroots activists who shaped the discussion after Roe, Mary Ziegler shows, were far more fluid and diverse than the partisans dominating the debate today. In the early years after the decision, advocates on either side of the abortion battle sought common ground on issues from pregnancy discrimination to fetal research. Drawing on archives and more than 100 interviews with key participants, Ziegler's revelations complicate the view that abortion rights proponents were insensitive to larger questions of racial and class injustice, and expose as caricature the idea that abortion opponents were inherently antifeminist. But over time, "pro-abortion" and "anti-abortion" positions hardened into "pro-choice" and "pro-life" categories in response to political pressures and compromises. This increasingly contentious back-and-forth produced the interpretation now taken for granted--that Roe was primarily a ruling on a woman's right to choose. Peering beneath the surface of social-movement struggles in the 1970s, After Roe reveals how actors on the left and the right have today made Roe a symbol for a spectrum of fervently held political beliefs.

One of the most private decisions a woman can make, abortion is also one of the most contentious topics in American civic life. Protested at rallies and politicized in party platforms, terminating pregnancy is often characterized as a selfish decision by women who put their own interests above those of the fetus. This background of stigma and hostility has stifled women's willingness to talk about abortion, which in turn distorts public and political discussion. To pry open the silence surrounding this public issue, Sanger distinguishes between abortion privacy, a form of nondisclosure based on a woman's desire to control personal information, and abortion secrecy, a woman's defense against the many harms of disclosure. Laws regulating abortion patients and providers treat abortion not as an acceptable medical decision--let alone a right--but as something disreputable, immoral, and chosen by mistake. Exploiting the emotional power of fetal imagery, laws require women to undergo ultrasound, a practice welcomed in wanted pregnancies but commandeered for use against women with unwanted pregnancies. Sanger takes these prejudicial views of women's abortion decisions into the twenty-first century by uncovering new connections between abortion law and American culture and politics. New medical technologies, women's increasing willingness to talk online and off, and the prospect of tighter judicial reins on state legislatures are shaking up the practice of abortion. As talk becomes more transparent and acceptable, women's decisions about whether or not to become mothers will be treated more like those of other adults making significant personal choices.--

"This book remains the only comprehensive treatment of abortion as a state constitutional right. Since the second edition was published, state challenges to abortion regulations have been considered by multiple state supreme courts, one state amended its constitution to make it "abortion neutral," and three states repealed their pre-Roe v. Wade abortion statutes. In addition to evaluating these developments, this edition discusses case law and statutory changes in other states that may bear on whether a state supreme court would recognize a right to abortion. This edition also includes an appendix of the constitutional provisions cited and a topical index"--

"With the Supreme Court likely to reverse Roe v. Wade, the landmark abortion decision, American debate appears fixated on clashing rights. The first comprehensive legal history of a vital period, Abortion in America illuminates an entirely different and unexpected shift in the terms of debate. Rather than simply championing rights, Mary Ziegler shows, those on opposing sides battled about the policy costs and benefits of abortion and laws restricting it. This mostly unknown turn deepened polarization in ways many have missed. Never abandoning their constitutional demands, pro-choice and pro-life advocates increasingly disagreed about the basic facts. Drawing on unexplored records and interviews with key participants, Ziegler complicates the view that the Supreme Court is responsible for the escalation of the conflict. A gripping account of social-movement divides and crucial legal strategies, this book delivers a definitive recent history of an issue that transforms American law and politics to this day"--Provided by the publisher.

Join us for a deep-dive into reproductive health, rights, and justice issues like abortion, birth control, sex education, women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and more. New episodes debut every other Tuesday, giving you an insider’s perspective on what is happening and what you can do to fight back.

CHOICE/LESS delivers powerful, personal stories of reproductive injustice and the laws, politics and people beyond the headlines. Part of the Rewire News Group podcast network.

An independent podcast that centers new voices in the Reproductive Justice and Black Feminist movements.

As Missouri cracks down on abortion access, we visited the only clinic in the state that still performs the procedure.