The Overturning of Roe v. Wade and People Capable of Pregnancy: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) overturned Roe v. Wade in their decision within Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, removing the constitutional right to abortion within the United States (US). Leading up to this anticipated and highly politicized case, 13 states passed preemptive legislation (i.e. “trigger bans”) that immediately made abortion illegal following the Dobbs decision. Limited research has explicitly explored the intersection of sexual health and reproductive health from a psychological perspective. Grounded in a reproductive justice framework, this interpretative phenomenological analysis sought to understand how people capable of pregnancy living within trigger ban states experienced Dobbs and how, if at all, it impacted their sexual subjectivity. Eleven participants were interviewed and five themes emerged from their stories: 1) Sense-Making of Overturn Through Systems, 2) Perceived Impact of Overturn as it Relates to Diverse Privileges, 3) Reduced Reproductive Agency as Reproductive Being, 4) Intrapersonal Understanding and Enactment of Sexual Subjectivity, and 5) Reclaiming Lost Self-Expression and Connection Post-Overturn. Overall, the participants’ experience of the overturning of Roe v. Wade varied based on a few important factors, namely the degree to which they approved of the overturn, their desire for a pregnancy, and their willingness to have an abortion in the future, such that those in support of the overturn who wanted to become pregnant and were unwilling to have an abortion appeared to experience it the least negatively. Additionally, findings suggest that these factors protected the participants from changes in their sexual subjectivity. Clinical and policy implications are discussed. Advisor: Dena M. Abbott