Course:CSIS200/2025/“Never Again”: The Overturning of Roe v. Wade

Introduction: A Warning Returned From History

On June 24, 2022, after the Supreme Court decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, large crowds of people gathered outside the Supreme court enraged and grieving. Within the protestors, one sign stood out. The sign was a black poster with the image of a white coat hanger and the words below read “NEVER AGAIN.” This is more than just a protest sign; it is a symbol of resistance, a historical warning, and an immediate call to action.  The coat hanger is the representation and symbol of illegal, unsafe abortions before Roe v. Wade. This picture is a harsh reminder that reproductive rights are neither evenly accessible nor guaranteed.

Protestors after the Dobbs. decision.

This wiki page analyzes the artifact through the lens of Critical Sexuality Studies, focusing on biopolitics, intersectionality, and feminist resistance. Expanding on peer-reviewed scholarly articles on the psychological, medical, and social consequences of abortion bans and restrictions, this analysis shows how the Dobbs decision has strengthened inequalities and regenerated forms of control over bodies that disproportionately impact marginalized communities. The picture above shows and summarizes these themes and presents them as an urgent message about the dangers of state power of women's bodies and reproductive rights. The hanger serves as a visual symbol for patriarchal control, state neglect, and the violence that results from limiting bodily autonomy. The artifact shows us who suffers most when reproductive rights are taken away, in addition to what was lost in Dobbs.

This picture is a replica of the protest sign seen outside of a protest after the Dobbs decision. The hanger is a symbol of unsafe abortions, while the text reading "NEVER AGAIN" is a sign of resistance.

Context: Roe, Dobbs, and the Politics of Bodily Autonomy

The overturning of Roe v. Wade takes away women's reproductive rights and bodily autonomy. It has made women's right to govern their own bodies and health a political issue when it should be a personal choice. On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) declared its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, and in summary they overturned Planned Parenthood v. Casey and Roe v. Wade. Following those days many abortion clinics in the United States have closed and women in particular states like Georgia are now forced to travel to other states to receive abortions.

Constitutional protection for abortion access was provided to women by the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. Although it is important to acknowledge that this did not always mean everyone had equal access, due to intersectional identities and oppressions like race and socioeconomic status. This federal protection was eliminated in 2022 when Roe was overturned by Dobbs, which prompted abortion bans and limitations in many states. The verdict, according to the authors, fits into a larger pattern of states using biopolitical control over reproduction, with long-term, deeply gendered, and global implications. This historical regression has been referred to in the "Never Again" sign. It brings to mind the pre-Roe period, when thousands of avoidable deaths were caused by unsafe, illegal abortions . This symbolic meaning communicates the idea that Dobbs revives a previously existing world rather than creating a new one.

Reproductive Citizenship and the Loss of Bodily Autonomy

Apart from effects on accessibility and health the Dobbs decision changes the cultural understanding of reproductive citizenship. When the government restricts abortion legally it implicitly determines whose reproduction is esteemed and whose is restricted. Anderson et al. (2024) Argue that compelled pregnancy results in psychological damage because beyond the associated medical dangers it represents a loss of autonomy, over ones future. This defeat extends a legacy of outside control over reproductive autonomy for numerous vulnerable individuals—whether via forced birth regulations, sterilization mistreatment or restricted access, to healthcare. The "Never artifact clearly highlights this legacy by emphasizing that reproductive injustice is not an isolated legal matter but rather a component of a broader trend where certain bodies, particularly those who are poor, black, queer and gender nonconforming are regarded as less entitled to self-rule. When placed within this frame, the fight for abortion rights becomes intimately tied to broader struggles for equity, dignity, and the right to self-determination during the Dobbs era.

Biopolitics: How the State Governs Life and Bodies

This map shows the states in which abortion rights are allowed, banned, or limited.

Michel Foucault advanced the concept of biopolitics, or the ways in which governments regulate and discipline sexuality, bodies, reproduction, and life itself. The bans on abortion constitute a blatant exercise of such authority: determining for whom pregnancy must be carried, who shall be penalized for seeking medical attention, and whose lives shall be prioritized. This idea places value on people based on their identity and leads to the state and patriarchal forces taking away the bodily autonomy of people. Abortion restrictions, as Khanna et al. (2023) point out, are one form of reproductive governance that disproportionately creates medical disparities across ethnic and gender identity groups. The populations most affected by bans on abortion, per the research, include lower-income people, sexual and gender minorities, and Black and Hispanic women. Dobbs exacerbates the existing barriers to health that those communities face by removing one of the integral components of bodily autonomy. In this regard, Heisler (2023) argues that restrictive abortion practices violate fundamental human rights, including access to safe health and medical information. This gives rise to serious violations; their manifestations include heightened morbidity, delays in treatment, and unnecessary suffering. The coat-hanger picture is a symbolic representation of this biopolitical violence. This hanger is a symbol of desperation and harm due to the state, and raising it during public demonstrations is a way for activists to contest the legitimacy of governmental authority that forces people to live in dangerous situations.

Intersectional Impacts: Race, Class, Sexuality, and Geography

The effects of Dobbs are not distributed equally throughout the population, according to an intersectional perspective. They build up at the intersections of gender identity, race, and class.

Race and Structural Inequality

As per Salehin and Pillai (2022), the states with the most restrictive abortion policies are typically the ones with the weakest socioeconomic structures (such as high levels of poverty and the least access to healthcare). These states have exhibited racial disparity for decades now.  Southern Black women, who already have higher maternal death rates, are now far more vulnerable as a result. As noted by Khanna and colleagues (2023), restricting access to abortion increases racial disparities in health care and raises the risk of negative medical outcomes for Black and Latina women. The coat hanger presents racialized risks that are disproportionate but also general ones.

Economic Inequality

As Anderson et al. (2024) explain, bans on abortion heighten the negative impact on mental health, particularly low-income people who cannot afford to fly out of state. Wealthy people often find ways around bans, while poor communities are hit hardest by enforced pregnancy. The unequal distribution of suffering causes reproductive injustice.

An image of a 2SLQBTQIA+ protest to highlight the importance of intersectional activism and solidarity.

Sexuality and Gender Diversity

The Dobbs ruling has repercussions for pregnant transgender and nonbinary individuals. According to Khanna et al. (2023), abortion bans exacerbate existing discrimination against sexual and gender minorities in healthcare. The artifact, therefore, addresses a much more general notion of freedom of the body and empowerment of the body.

Geography

Salehin and Pillai (2022) showed that the variation of state policy creates a patchwork of access, where some states expand abortion rights while some states criminalize them. Reproductive autonomy becomes determined by ZIP code.

The coat hanger symbolizes this uneven landscape a slice of Americans have rights while others face near-deadly conditions.

Feminist Resistance and the Coat Hanger as Iconic Protest Symbol

The coat hanger has symbolized reproductive injustice since the 1960s and continues to do so today. It represents not only danger but also resistance. It’s the message of a protester from today carrying it: We remember, we won’t go back. According to Kaufman et al. (2022), feminist movements around the world have adopted visual symbols to raise public awareness about reproductive autonomy. The "Never Again" visual sign forms part of this tradition that conveys a complex history and complexity through simple imagery. According to Heisler (2023), activism can help counter state disinformation about abortion and reproductive health. Protest signs disrupt official narratives, posing Bans as medically or morally protective. As such, the artifact is not simply a warning but an imperative, calling one to act.

[1] --> This podcast by Marta Martínez and Victoria Estrada it talks about the experience of Brazilian women with the abortion ban. It highlights the story of many women who found a way to have an abortion in a safe manner. It highlights how Brazilian women discovered self-managed abortions using pills that allowed them to have abortions more safely than ever before, even with abortions being illegal. It highlights how these women created a network in which they made this pill accessible to many, and many lives were saved. It shows how these women came together and resisted the control of their bodies and found ways to make it accessible to a large group of people who needed it. It is important to acknowledge how women have historically resisted and can resist today.

Conclusion: Why the Artifact Matters

A major subject in Critical Sexuality Studies is captured by the "Never Again" coat-hanger protest sign: the continuous conflict over who controls reproduction and whose lives are valued. The artifact cautions that abortion prohibitions cause actual, quantifiable harm and are not merely theoretical (Kaufman et al., 2022; Anderson et al., 2024). It also emphasizes how this harm is formed by geography, sexual orientation, race, and class rather than being dispersed equally (Khanna et al., 2023; Salehin & Pillai, 2022). This artifact exposes, through the prism of biopolitics, how the state controls bodies and shows how communities organize to resist that dominance through feminist resistance. Intersectionality also makes clear that unless all people, not just some, have fair, safe, and legal access to health care, reproductive justice cannot be achieved. "Never Again" is a pledge as much as it is a warning. It urges us to act, to remember, and to resist.

Author's Bio

Baran Mahdian is a first-year student at the University of British Columbia. She has always enjoyed the field of sexuality studies and social justice studies. In order to investigate the connections between gender, sexuality, race, and politics, Baran plans to major in sociology. Baran seeks to utilize sociological research as a tool to comprehend and confront the systems that sustain injustice, driven by a dedication to social justice and community advocacy. Baran is particularly interested in feminist theory and the intersectional ways in which feminist theory applies and is needed within society.