Dorothy S's Senior Project Blog
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Project Title: The Reversal Process: A Historical Analysis of America’s Abortion Policy BASIS Advisor: Vageesha Pathak Internship Location: Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Onsite Mentor: Dr. Carolyn Sufrin |
Project Abstract
With the increasing polarization of U.S. politics, non-partisan issues like abortion have become sharply divided along party lines. Abortion is no longer solely an issue of reproductive health and freedom; it has become entangled in debates over religion, morality, and federal versus state power. This shift sparked the central question for my research: how did we get here? Over the past decades, access to abortion has drastically declined. According to Pew Research, the number of abortion providers in the United States has dropped from 2,908 in 1982 to 1603 in 2020. As an essential, often life-saving procedure, abortion’s growing inaccessibility affects everyone, especially marginalized communities who already face barriers to healthcare. Through my work with Dr. Carolyn Sufrin and the research group Advocacy and Research on Reproductive Wellness of Incarcerated People (ARRWIP), I explored how political and social shifts have shaped abortion access. My project analyzes both past and present reproductive policies, recent legal challenges, and the consequences for vulnerable populations. Thanks to my internship with ARRWIP, I examined how structural inequalities interact with reproductive healthcare. Ultimately, my goal has been to use both historical and current data to both chart the history of abortion in America and to contextualize today’s challenges to reproductive justice.
Week 10: Closing Arguements
Hello readers! It’s our final week together and I want to say thank you to everyone who’s been tuning in every week to read my blog. I’ve really enjoyed getting to share all of my research with you. Ten weeks ago, I developed my guiding question: To what degree could we have predicted the Dobbs... Read More
Week 9: We aren’t Aborting the Mission
Hello readers! It's week 9 already, wow. This week we will be looking at reproductive rights advocates and how they have adapted to current challenges. After Dobbs, it’s easy to feel like we’ve lost everything. But reproductive rights successes in the U.S were never won instantaneously and they won’t be restored that way either. Throughout... Read More
Week 8: Dobbs and the Dispossessed
Hello readers! I can't believe it's already week 8. Today's topic touches on something more recent, the Dobbs v. Jackson decision in 2022, and the consequences to vulnerable populations. The overturning of Roe v. Wade in the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision marked not just a step, but a leap backwards in... Read More
Week 7: Framing the Fight
Hello Readers! This week our topic is language. In the abortion rights debate, language has never been neutral. Every word is chosen with a purpose. It doesn't matter if it's a political slogan or news article heading, the words used influence how people feel and what they believe. Look at pro-life vs. pro-choice.... Read More
Week 6: Choice Words
Hello readers! As promised, we’re diving into something a little more uplifting this week: the pro-choice movement. When we talk about reproductive rights today, abortion access is framed around “choice”. The modern pro-abortion movement, aka the pro-choice movement, focuses on a person’s right to choose what they do with their body. But historically, this... Read More
Week 5: Law and Disorder
Hello again, readers! Now that I’ve given you a better understanding of my internship, I think it is time to bring history back in. This week, we are looking at 4 key points in American political history that have shaped broader abortion policy and public opinion. From criminalization to constitutional protection to criminalization yet again,... Read More
Week 4: Locked Out of Care
Hello readers! I thought I’d use this week to give you a little break from my dense historical blogs and share more about my internship. I am currently interning with ARRWIP (Advocacy and Research on Reproductive Wellness of Incarcerated People), a nonprofit working to address serious reproductive injustices within prison and jail systems. My... Read More
Week 3: Who Prescribed the First Abortion Bans?
Welcome to week 3 readers! This week I spent time researching the early anti-abortion movement that gained traction and drove significant changes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Until the founding of the American Medical Association (AMA) in 1847, abortion was a common and mostly unregulated feature of American life. Following colonial-era laws,... Read More
Week 2: Faith, Freedom, and Fetuses
Hello readers! It's Week 2 and time to dive into the foundations of the modern (1970-present) anti-abortion movement. The conservative, traditional crusade against abortion that we’re familiar with today is far from original anti-abortion sentiments. In fact, evangelicals and other protestants were largely unaffiliated with politics and indifferent to abortion until the 1970s. It was... Read More
Week 1: It All Comes Down to Control
Welcome to Week 1 of my blog! This week I started thinking deeper about the root of the abortion debate and why it has become such a heavily contested topic. In her book, Controlling Women: What We Must Do Now to Save Reproductive Freedom, author Julie Kay writes, “the abortion debate is about controlling when and with... Read More
Abortion: Healthcare or Controversy? An Introduction
My name is Dorothy S., a senior at BASIS Washington DC and I am eager to share my senior project journey with you. Abortion. Most people, whether they love it or hate it, have got something to say about it. What began as a healthcare issue has spiraled into a deeply polarizing social and political... Read More