(Photo illustration by Natasha Vicens/PublicSource)
Four local academics spoke with PublicSource about the impacts a reversal of Roe v. Wade would have in Pennsylvania and where the current moment fits in with the history of social change.
How do you feel in light of the recent news about Roe?
“I feel like my country thinks of me as less of a person at this point, and it’s not a great feeling, especially as someone who, you know, became a political scientist out of really a sense of patriotism…” —Jennie Sweet-Cushman, an associate professor of political science at Chatham University
How could the overturning of Roe impact people of marginalized identities?
“Poor and working class women, they will not be able to just purchase a plane ticket and go to the nearest state to get an abortion … As we’ve seen in so many areas, it will have a disproportionate impact.” —Robin Brooks, assistant professor of Africana Studies at the University of Pittsburgh
What concern does this pose in Pennsylvania?
“We’re among the worst in the nation concerning the death rate and the health of Black women giving birth to children. So then, if we start already at the bottom, and then we try to eliminate access to different types of health care, including abortion, you know, I see that as making things in Pennsylvania even worse.” —Brooks
How does concrete social change happen?
“Concrete social change happens when people get active and make a difference, when they get out in the streets … Social change is possible; it is never permanent. There is no such thing as a progression of history. History never moves in a constantly progressive model. It always changes and needs attention.” —Laura Lovett, associate professor in Pitt’s Department of History
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