"We Will Figure This Out Together:” Reproductive Health and Resilience in the Rio Grande Valley

This dissertation incorporates community-based participatory research to explore how the 2022 SCOTUS Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling and the subsequent sweeping anti-abortion ban in the state of Texas impacts the lived experiences of pregnancy-capable individuals living in the Rio Grande Valley. Through a novel methodological approach that incorporates extensive participant observation, in-depth interviews, free listing, and a Photovoice project, this ethnographic work elucidates the broader social and structural factors that impact reproductive health care-seeking practices for those living along the southern border of Texas and Mexico. The goal of this project was to explore the factors that impact decision-making processes related to abortion care and the ways in which individuals enact resilience in a milieu characterized by high poverty rates and intense policing, acknowledged as a medically underserved area. I found that myriad factors impact abortion access, including a political economic history of violence, conquest, and contestation in the region. I argue that resource inequity creates intersectional vulnerability, which is overcome through acts of resilience stemming from a commitment to the values embodied in reproductive justice advocacy, experience of living in a Post-Roe environment, and extensive support networks.