Larissa Lindsay, Rice MLS ’09
My biological mother died a year ago. I knew her since I was 14 years old. It was an unusual, complicated relationship, not easily defined. She introduced me as a friend’s daughter visiting from Houston, a friend from Houston, a work colleague, a friend of a work colleague, or just a friend… read more.
Jessica Crutcher
It’s a sunny morning on Friday, June 24, 2022, and I’m doing the post-COVID thing of considering what shirt to wear to go work in my office as opposed to my home office, when the news come through. I skim the opinion reversing Roe v. Wade while the world shatters around me as if it is made solely of sharp pointed glass and metal… read more.
Abortion and Why People are Afraid
Andrew Joseph Pegoda, University of Houston
As a women’s studies professor, I observe one common thread when thinking about abortion, especially the Dobbs decision and the myriad of responses to it: fear. Lots of fear from all sides. Such feelings are often deeply internalized. Such emotions are also very warranted for the people now further lacking complete autonomy over their body… read more.
Tesla Cariani, CSWGS Postdoctoral Fellow
What I remember most vividly are the strands of tiny glass beads. A wooden box of them glimmered faintly on our bookshelf for years. They were the remnants of my cousin’s days spent in a psychiatric unit where crafting is one way to pass the time. She would later tell me she attempted suicide because whenever she closed her eyes, she would see images of hell—nightmares of fire and brimstone that she couldn’t seem to shake… read more.
After Roe…and Before Something Better?
Lora Wildenthal, CSWGS Faculty Affiliate
Could “After Roe” also be “Before something better than Roe?” Some days I’m optimistic, because the current moment shows us an outpouring of abortion stories, abortion information, and other abortion talk. And if reproductive justice has to be weaponized for party politics, the U.S. Republican Party is doing a great job of making itself the party of forcing children to give birth and bringing people to the brink of death from sepsis by withholding miscarriage care… read more.
Reproductive Justice: Finding Hope in the Wake of Roe
Rosemary Hennessy, CSWGS Faculty Affiliate
No question: life after Roe’s death looks like a dystopian nightmare. It has taken me some time to stop cycling through the five stages of grief and seriously begin to consider the work ahead. The civil rights and labor organizer Miles Horton once said that if people don’t have hope they won’t be moved; without hope they won’t do anything. I think that’s right… read more.
Dr. Jacquelyn Shah
All humans, male and female, have the right to do with their bodies what they will … as long as they don’t interfere with the safety and well-being of another post-birth human. Yes, men in power, and their attendant women, can legislate against bodily rights and punish people for their choices, but the rights remain, inalienable… read more.
How The Past Can Inform the Future
Taylor Rosen
In 1973, the Supreme Court granted bodily autonomy to women when it sided with a woman under the pseudonym of Jane Roe in a case against Dallas County’s district attorney. As part of this case, the Supreme Court established federal regulations on abortion, revoking the individual states’ abilities to control women’s reproductive health… read more.
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