“Everything Everywhere All At Once”: The Knowledge Economy of Abortion Rights Post-Dobbs

• In Event: Reproductive Governance After Dobbs: Rights, Borders, and Criminalization

Abstract

The landscape of reproductive rights in the U.S. is in constant flux, especially since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. As abortion access continues to be legislated, litigated, and regulated by states, abortion seekers and organizers alike must navigate the ever-changing legal landscape around them—within their home state and beyond. Through qualitative interviews with reproductive rights organizers, this paper argues that organizers in the post-Dobbs landscape must simultaneously engage in three forms of knowledge practices: comprehension, translation, and contestation. First, abortion funds and practical support groups are tasked with tracking legal updates not only within their home state but also in adjacent states and any possible destination state where they might need to refer abortion seekers calling their helplines. They face the burden of comprehending the complexities around the legality of abortion and facilitating its access, all of which have become more complicated in the wake of Dobbs. Second, when faced with misinformation, disinformation, and anxious abortion seekers who fear criminalization, organizers must translate these complex legal environments to assuage people’s fears and assist them in accessing abortion. Finally, organizers continue to contest and resist these legal realities in whatever ways they can—whether that is within the courts, the electoral system, and beyond.

Author

• Hataipreuk Dawy Rkasnuam, University of Southern California