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This speaker series considers the criminalization of reproduction—historical and contemporary, local and global—largely through the lens of reproductive justice.

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Abstract: This talk will present the preliminary findings of a national research study tracking prosecutions for pregnancy-related conduct in the first year after the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. It will contextualize them within larger conversations about pregnancy criminalization and the relationships among victimhood, care, and punishment in U.S. criminal systems.

Wendy Bach is a Professor of Law and co-Director of the Appalachian Justice Research Center at the University of Tennessee College of Law. Her research focuses on the intersection of poverty law, criminal law, social welfare provision, law and society, and community lawyering. Professor Bach is the author of a number of law review articles and Prosecuting Poverty, Criminalizing Care (Cambridge University Press, 2022). She is currently leading a national study of the criminalization of pregnancy in a post-Dobbs world. She received a J.D. from the New York University School of Law, as well as an M.A. and a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.