Deploying Death

ABSTRACT

This Article observes that if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, people of color—specifically black people—disproportionately will be impacted by the abortion restrictions that will proliferate in the wake of the decision. In many cases, those forced to terminate unwanted pregnancies under unsafe conditions will be black; some of these people will die. This Article asks about the political weight of these deaths. It asks whether abortion rights activists will deploy the deaths of black people with the capacity for pregnancy in their continued struggle for abortion rights. And it wonders whether activists for racial justice will deploy the deaths of these black people—most of whom will be cis women, but many of whom will be trans men and nonbinary people—in the struggle against racial injustice.

About the Author

Khiara M. Bridges is a Professor of Law at UC Berkeley School of Law.

By LRIRE