Abortion in the United States: Politics

This course examines a range of historical and current issues relating to the politics, policies and provision of abortion in the United States. Students will engage with a wide range of texts and resources and will hear from experts in the field. In the seven sessions, students will analyze real-time policy debates and developments in the courts, review recent social science research and messaging research from reproductive health, rights, and justice experts and discuss the role that research plays in public policy with experts themselves. This course will examine the history of abortion in the United States to better understand how provision has changed over time as laws have evolved and how abortion has become so politically fraught. It will delve into recent research studies on abortion access and examine how various laws have impacted abortion access, how immigration status impacts access to care, and how abortion access impacts economic outcomes across the lifecycle. We will examine polling on abortion attitudes to discern the current state of public opinion, how it is measured and what we can glean from it. Students will learn more about the range of abortion methods currently offered, and will hear from abortion providers about how those procedures have evolved, how those procedures are (or could be) impacted by public policy, and how medical advances are and will continue to change abortion. Lastly, it will review how states are experimenting with policies that expand access to sexual and reproductive health care and allow students to imagine what inclusive, effective policies could look like at the state, federal and international level.