When Roe Fell: How Barriers, Inequities, and Systemic Failures of Justice in Abortion Became Visible
When Roe Fell: How Barriers, Inequities, and Systemic Failures of Justice in Abortion Became Visible
edited by Katrina Kimport contributions by Erin Johnson, Klaira Lerma, Ophra Leyser-Whalen, Sara Matthiesen, Michelle L. McGowan, Jenny O'Donnell, Meredith Pensak, Lindsay Rae Ruhr, Jessica Sanders, Jane Seymour, Barbara A. Alvarez, Kelly Ward, Tracy A. Weitz, Alexandra Woodcock, Whitney Arey, Danielle Bessett, Micki Burdick, Diana Greene Foster, Lori Freedman, Jenny Higgins and Jessie Hill
Rutgers University Press, 2026 Cloth: 978-1-9788-4193-2 | Paper: 978-1-9788-4192-5 | eISBN: 978-1-9788-4194-9 (ePub) | eISBN: 978-1-9788-4195-6 (PDF) Library of Congress Classification KF3771 Dewey Decimal Classification 342.730878
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
When Roe Fell examines the history, politics, and practical experiences of abortion leading up to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, placing this judicial decision in a longer history of abortion in the United States. Contributors delve into what the end of Roe revealed about abortion seekers, abortion provision, and abortion advocacy, demystifying abortion and abortion research, laying bare common misunderstandings and misinformation, and belying claims that the fall of Roe "changed everything." Moving beyond legal frameworks, this volume is an opportunity to reorient scholarship and understanding about abortion, recognizing what was already true before Roe was overturned and how losing the protections of Roe forced, enabled, and perhaps even facilitated a new era of abortion.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
KATRINA KIMPORT is a professor in the Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) program at the University of California, San Francisco. She is the author of No Real Choice: How Culture and Politics Matter for Reproductive Autonomy and Queering Marriage: Challenging Family Formation in the United States, both also published by Rutgers University Press.
REVIEWS
"When Roe Fell is a superb collection of pieces by leading scholars of abortion. The book makes a powerful argument that simply restoring Roe v. Wade would be an insufficient response to meeting the challenge of establishing true reproductive freedom in the United States."— Carole Joffe, coauthor of After Dobbs: How the Supreme Court Ended Roe but Not Abortion
"Smartly conceptualized, engaging, and insightful, When Roe Fell reveals the problems presented by Roe, the possibilities for exploitation leveraged by Dobbs, and the potential for a better foundation in the future if we pay attention to the lessons learned."— Krystale E. Littlejohn, author of Just Get on the Pill: The Uneven Burden of Reproductive Politics
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction: What Losing Constitutional Protection Did and Didn’t Change About Abortion in the United States Katrina Kimport
PART I: What the Fall of Roe Revealed about People Who Have Abortions
1 Contraception Is Not Enough Diana Greene Foster
2 What Dobbs Revealed About the Everyday Morality of Abortion Whitney Arey and Klaira Lerma
3 Abortion Restrictions: How Much Has Actually Changed Lindsay Ruhr
4 Counting Was All We Ever Had: Measuring Change in Abortion Care After Dobbs Jenny O’Donnell
5 Toward a Unified Conceptualization of Abortion Access Jane W. Seymour and Jenny Higgins
PART II: What the Fall of Roe Revealed About Abortion Provision
6 Shift Work: Abortion Care in an Ever-Changing Landscape Kelly Marie Ward and Barbara A. Alvarez
7 The Great Fallacy that American Catholic Hospitals Practice Medicine Without Abortion Lori Freedman
8 Dobbs Reinvigorated the Potential of Mifepristone to “Change Everything” Tracy A. Weitz
9 “We're Living in a Really Alternative Universe Right Now”: The Limits of Physicians’ Cultural Authority Pre-Dobbs and What That Means for a Post-Dobbs World Danielle Bessett, B. Jessie Hill, Meredith J. Pensak, and Michelle L. McGowan
10 Physician Workforce Sensitivity and Reactions to Abortion Bans Alexandra Woodcock and Jessica Sanders
PART III: What the Fall of Roe Revealed About Advocacy for and Against Abortion
11 Know Your Enemy: The Ethical Failings of the “Expose Fake Clinics” Campaign Against Anti-Abortion, Crisis Pregnancy Centers Sara Mattheisen
12 “This Right Here is a Baby:” White Evangelical Women in the Pro-Life Movement Micki Burdick
13 Evolving, Innovating, Enduring: Behind the Scenes on Abortion Funds Continuing through a Post-Dobbs Landscape Ophra Leyser-Whalen and Erin R. Johnson
Acknowledgments
Resources
Notes on Contributors
Index
