Reproductive Redlining: Unraveling Historical Disparities and Facility Placement in Distance to Licensed Childcare Facilities, Reproductive Health Clinics, & Crisis Pregnancy Centers for Women in the Southern Region of the United States

This dissertation investigates how historical and structural inequalities shape contemporary access to reproductive health services, licensed childcare facilities, and crisis pregnancy centers across Mississippi, Virginia, and Maryland. Using feminist geography, reproductive justice theory, and historical trauma theory, this research develops the concept of reproductive redlining to explore how race, policy, and space intersect to produce health disparities. By combining GIS mapping with multivariate statistical analysis and redlining data from the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC), the study evaluates spatial distributions and demographic correlates of facility access before and after the Dobbs decision. Findings reveal enduring spatial inequities that disproportionately impact Black women and families in southern states. This work contributes to criminological, geographic, and public health literatures by connecting past segregationist policies to present-day reproductive injustices, emphasizing the urgent need for equitable, place-based policy interventions. The results offer critical implications for improving reproductive autonomy and addressing racialized healthcare barriers.