Reproductive justice when abortion rights are under threat

Abortion rights are being contested, restricted, and rolled back in countries around the world – from legal challenges and policy reversals to the criminalisation of self-managed abortion. What does reproductive justice look like in this shifting landscape, and what can research tell us about the strategies that are working?

This panel brings together researchers from Argentina, India, Australia, and the UK whose work spans the politics, health, and lived experience of reproductive rights. They will explore how abortion activism is challenging stigma through creative and cultural strategies, what decades of cross national organising for abortion can teach us, and what it takes to reduce abortion stigma within health systems.

Speakers

Dr Nayla Luz Vacarezza, Gonville & Caius College, University of Cambridge Nayla researches gender, feminist politics, and reproductive justice in Latin America, with a focus on how abortion activism uses visual culture, performance, and storytelling to challenge stigma.

Dr Rishita Nandagiri, King's College London Rishita's work focuses on abortion and reproductive injustice in the Global South, including critiques of medico-legal approaches to self-managed abortion and the politics of how we define "safety" and "risk" in reproduction.

Dr Shelly Makleff, University of Melbourne Shelly researches strategies to reduce abortion stigma in the Australian health system, with broader expertise in sexual and reproductive health, quality of care, and violence prevention.

Chair: Professor Cicely Marston, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, and Official Fellow, Kellogg College.

A reception for attendees follows the panel.