University Honors

Women’s reproductive health encompasses more than just pregnancy. There are manyfactors that play crucial roles in the health and well-being of women, such as contraception,abortion, the struggles of infertility, and most importantly, gaining access to proper care tomaintain overall health. However, as we have seen throughout history, women in the UnitedStates have had to overcome many challenges and fight for the right to be able to govern theirown bodies and healthcare. The immense impact that lack of proper care, such as denied accessto abortion, birth control, and fertility treatments, has on women daily is all too often overlooked,and this is not due to lack of research. This project studied women’s reproductive health in termsof the history of access to contraception and abortion, the impact of values of others on publicpolicy, and advocacy of reproductive justice to better understand the disparities that exist inwomen’s healthcare and explain how they came to be. These topics were explored via a literaturereview and analysis of previous scholarly work on the subject. Women’s reproductive healthcontains aspects, such as abortion and contraception, that have had political conflict surroundingthem for a very long time. It was the goal of this project to understand and spread awareness ofthe impact that political turmoil has had on comprehensive women’s health, and how some ofthose impacts can be remedied.