LAWS7653 · Law

Women's Health Law, Policy and Politics

Boston College Law School

Women in the United States currently face health risks that are simultaneously unprecedented, predictable, and readily preventable. This course should be of interest to ALL because womens health affects the lives of their partners, children, and communities.This course will examine the ways in which law, policy and politics operate separately and collectively to protect and/or impede the individual and public health of women. Specific issues may include: 1) how the Dobbs Courts 2022 erasure of longstanding abortion protections has increased maternal and infant mortality by curtailing federally mandated emergency miscarriage care, and also jeopardized access to ACA-required coverage of free contraceptives and preventive screenings; 2) why women as healthcare providers face formidable, inequitable and mounting barriers to professional entry, necessary training and continued advancement; and 3) why, as patients, women particularly pregnant women of color face potentially insurmountable barriers to medically necessary and culturally appropriate care. In addition, because womens health transcends reproductive concerns, this course will analyze how law and politics can exacerbate and/or mitigate problems such as: a) women's under-representation in clinical trials; b) gender bias in diagnosis and treatment; and c) undue product liability risks from inadequately tested medical devices and toxic hormone disruptors in gender-targeted personal care products.