An Examination of Oppression Via Anti-Abortion Legislation

Authors

Saphronia P. Carson, University of Central FloridaFollow

Mentor

Dr. Kenicia Wright

Abstract

Significant disparities in reproductive health care access and outcomes exist along race, ethnicity, and income lines. One of the starkest examples of this is the dramatic reduction in abortion access over the past 45 years that disproportionately affects minority and low-income women. While existing literature has exposed these disparities and potential reasons for them, there is less attention to the ways reduced access to reproductive health care, specifically abortion, can coerce, exploit, and systematically oppress women of color and low-income women. This research uses a reproductive justice framework to discuss the impact of anti-abortion legislation and the anti-abortion movement on minority women and low-income women. I argue that reducing abortion access is systematically oppressive by connecting limited abortion access to three specific sites of oppression: broader systems of oppression in history and today that are seemingly unrelated to reproductive rights; social-level coercion towards sterilization among minority women; and the US family welfare system that oppresses and exploits those it purports to help. This research examines contemporary abortion policies using an intersectional, reproductive justice lens. It concludes with promising directions for future research on minority and low-income women’s reproductive healthcare related experiences in the US. Lastly, it is important to highlight the privileges that white women of all incomes have compared to women of color. This research recognizes this systemic privilege and thus spends the most time discussing the disparities that exist along racial lines. However, it is also important to recognize the impact that income level and class have on abortion access, and so with that in mind this research frequently discusses race and income simultaneously.

About the Author

Saphronia graduated from UCF with her BA in Interdisciplinary Studies TransGRaSS Track in Spring 2020 and is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Sociology at UCF. Her research interests include ecofeminism, vegetarian ecofeminism, reproductive justice, Critical Race Theory, and intersectionality. She hopes to get her PhD in Women's and Gender Studies and eventually research and teach at the university level.

Recommended Citation

Carson, Saphronia P. (2021) "An Examination of Oppression Via Anti-Abortion Legislation," The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal: Vol. 14: Iss. 1, Article 1.
Available at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/urj/vol14/iss1/1