Claudia Holzman Seminar in Women's and Reproductive Health - Alison Gemmill, PhD

"Reproductive Health in Context: How Policy Environments Shape Fertility, Pregnancy, and Population Health" Reproductive health in the United States is increasingly shaped by a rapidly changing policy environment. The Dobbs decision and the wave of abortion bans that followed have dramatically reshaped an existing patchwork of reproductive policies across states, with consequences that extend beyond abortion access itself. In this talk, I will draw on recent research examining how these policies are affecting maternal and infant health. I will also consider the broader role of policy context in shaping reproductive health, including evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic on how state policy environments may have heightened or buffered vulnerability to maternal health risks during a major population health shock. This work raises broader questions about the role of policy in shaping reproductive lives—questions that are becoming increasingly important as falling birth rates generate new interest in policies intended to influence childbearing. Understanding these policy contexts, and who benefits or is harmed by them, is central to advancing reproductive health and equity.