The Era of Rollbacks: From Laws, Regulations to Rights

• In Event: Regulatory Rollback 2: The Future of Equality and Rights in an Era of Deregulation

Abstract

The Trump Presidency has begun a process of implementing neoconservative agendas across the United States, leaving over half of the population in dismay while others celebrate archaic triumphs. In addition to rollbacks of corporate and environmental regulations at the Federal and State levels, the Trump presidency has inaugurated an agenda of draconian, neoconservative social rollbacks that threaten women, people of color, and those who violate hetero-normative standards, all aimed at ensuring the continuation of an inept, violent status quo benefiting a white, wealthy power elite. All of these social rollbacks are important and deserve attention. Due to time limitations, however, this paper focus specifically on the rollback of rights of women including, but not limited to the withholding of federal funds to providers of abortion services and the Global Gag Rule preventing organizations from mentioning abortion, defunding the United Nations Population Fund that provides maternal health and other services, the reduction of teen pregnancy grant programs, and the general erosion of trust in women in general and specifically those that claim victimization of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Authors

• Dawn L. Rothe, Eastern Kentucky University

• Victoria E. Collins, Eastern Kentucky University