Side effects of the abortion wars: Genetic counselors’ perspectives on the impact of abortion regulation on prenatal care
Abortion
Awarded 2021
Emerging Scholars in Family Planning
Maya Manian, JD
University of California, San Francisco
$4,080

Maya Manian is a PhD student at the University of California San Francisco where she is pursuing a degree in Sociology. Prior to joining UCSF, she received a JD from Harvard Law School. She has been a Visiting Professor at American University Washington College of Law, Howard University School of Law, and University of California Berkeley School of Law, as well as a Professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law. Her legal research investigates the relationship between constitutional law, family law, and health care law, with a particular focus on access to reproductive health care. Her current research interest applies sociological theories to the study of laws regulating access to abortion. Her proposed research is a qualitative study that is part of a larger dissertation project aiming to understand how laws restricting access to abortion might constrain a wider range of women’s medical care. Through in-depth interviews with 20 prenatal genetic counselors, she seeks to understand how reason-based abortion bans for genetic anomalies and gestational limits on abortion care might be reshaping prenatal care. The primary objective is to create a more nuanced understanding of whether and how abortion laws and policies impact women’s health care beyond the (very significant) harms of denying abortion care itself. A fuller understanding of the wider impact of abortion regulations could be used to encourage policymakers and the public to protect women’s health by rejecting further restrictions on access to abortion care.