Dr. Jean on women's health and reproductive rights (part 7)

Through the lens of her lived experiences, identities, clinical practice and research, Dr. Jean reflects on the current political climate and the historical roots of the oppression of women, and women's struggles past and present for independence, freedom and autonomy over our own bodies.

Sarah: I just want to add on to what you were saying. I really liked your point about how it's not your fault how people perceive a woman's body, for example. And something I was talking about today in class is how a woman's body is so inherently political in a way. 

And so building off of that, I'm going into a more reproductive health standpoint. How do you think the political climate has impacted women in reproductive health in that sense? 

I saw somewhere, and it made me think of this question, that if men could get abortions, it'd be available at a local gas station. (01:08:30) But since it’s a woman’s body, it's a very different mindset and playing field. 

So yeah, I just want to know how you think the political climate has impacted that aspect. 

Dr. Jean: Yeah, I think the political climate has been challenging. Because right now there are many states where you can't get an abortion, right? We're trying to get through that place. But it starts earlier for us, for women, when you're told you couldn't have an abortion because it was against the church. 

Historically, we were told what to do with our bodies, because we weren't making the laws. We weren't making the rules. A husband — a wife was a husband's property, so to speak. So you would need your husband's permission up to, I think 1981, somewhere around there, to open a bank account. 

I think it was earlier for the abortion. But then you have society around morality, around — many people can't go to their family members and say I'm having an abortion. It's not supported. 

They'll say, "Oh, have the baby and give it to me or have the baby and give it — ” (a gesture and expression indicating the history of women giving a child up for adoption, or of family taking in a child so that the mother could work — not always by choice, on anyone’s side.

We know that many people in the English world and in the world that colonized us, they would do something with the babies. They wouldn't want to have those babies. They would go away and have those babies. 

A lot of women of color didn't have those choices. And then with what happened in slavery — women were raped, and they didn't have any choice, they had to have those babies, right? 

So we come to a time now where it's like ‘you want to make America great again’ (she is referencing the conservative political slogan, indicating in tone and expression a strong and ironic disagreement with any definition of ‘greatness’ that rests on violence) — and we're back in this place where like we're going to tell you what you can do with your body. 

So there's a lot of fear in this, you know, if people were (traumatized by) incest, or in some other way sexually assaulted in so many other ways. 

It's not as freely — you don't feel like you own your body in that way. You're not free to do what you need to do with it. And so it's creating a lot of fear among, especially young people, who don't want to start a family right now, who don't want to take care of children right now. 

And a lot of women are choosing not to have children, period. There's a whole set of — they're done with this (with voice and movement she rejects the painful past and present enforcement of the claim) woman who are brought here to have kids. They’re done with that. So there's a lot of uncertainty in this climate. Yeah. 

Sarah: Thank you. 

Dr. Jean: Yeah.