Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice

Catalog description

This course will explore how reproductive health, healthcare and freedom are regulated in the United States. The course will apply an reproductive justice framework that investigates laws, policies and practices affecting reproductive rights and bodily autonomy, but that also applies an intersectional lens to consider how race, gender, sexuality, class, ability, and immigration status affect reproduction and parenting for marginalized communities. We will also explore how religion and ideas of morality shape laws, policies and practices implicating reproductive health, bodily autonomy and notions of reproductive justice. Topics will include: eugenics, sterilization, contraception, abortion, criminal fetal endangerment laws, substance use during pregnancy, reproductive rights of incarcerated populations, access to reproductive healthcare, assisted reproduction, surrogacy, maternal health disparities, the child welfare system, and policies related to parenting and family health. Readings will include public health, law and policy analysis and landmark legal