From Roe to Dobbs: Black Women’s Invisibility and the Limits of Reproductive Rights

Abstract

The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022) overturned nearly fifty years of federal abortion protections established by Roe v. Wade (1973), prompting renewed debate over the durability and inclusivity of reproductive rights in the United States. This paper argues that the collapse of Roe exposes the structural limitations of a rights-based feminist framework that failed to center Black women’s reproductive realities. Using a legal-historical methodology, this study traces the historical development of reproductive control from slavery through the post-Dobbs era by examining legal decisions, archival interviews from The HistoryMakers Digital Archive, historical scholarship, and Black feminist theory. Through periodization and an analysis of continuity and change over time, the paper demonstrates that Black women’s reproductive experiences have long been shaped by coercion, medical racism, economic inequality, and state regulation. Although Roe expanded constitutional protections for abortion, it did not address poverty, healthcare access, and discriminatory public policy that limited Black women’s ability to exercise those rights. The subsequent erosion of reproductive protections through policies such as the Hyde Amendment and the eventual overturning of Roe in Dobbs reveal the instability of legal rights that are disconnected from material conditions. Drawing on Black feminist theory and the reproductive justice framework, this paper contends that reproductive freedom must extend beyond legal access to abortion to encompass the social, economic, and political conditions necessary for genuine autonomy. Ultimately, the study concludes that reproductive justice provides a more comprehensive and equitable framework for understanding and advancing reproductive freedom than traditional rights-based approaches.