Reproductive Justice in the Post-Roe v. Wade Era

In the present study, we examined relations among reactions to the Dobbs v. Jackson court ruling (heretofore adverse reactions), psychological distress, collective action, and abortion history among cisgender women and people assigned female at birth. Specifically, we examined the ways in which the relation between adverse reactions to the Dobbs v. Jackson decision and psychological distress may vary according to involvement in reproductive justice and antiabortion collective action and abortion history. Results ( n = 894) revealed that adverse reactions were significantly positively related to psychological distress. Furthermore, involvement in reproductive justice collective action was significantly positive to psychological distress whereas the relation between antiabortion collective action and psychological distress was nonsignificant. The positive relation between adverse reactions and psychological distress was exacerbated by high levels of involvement in reproductive justice and weakened by low levels of involvement in antiabortion collective action, and these relations did not vary according to abortion history. In addition, the relation between involvement in antiabortion collective action and psychological distress was significant and positive among those who had had an abortion and nonsignificant for those who had not. These findings reveal the importance of mental health providers attending to their clients’ abortion-related beliefs and histories, involvement in collective action, and psychological distress. Additional online materials for this article are available on PWQ's website at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/03616843231210219

Abortion · Action (physics · Collective action · Distress · Economic Justice · Mental health · Political science · Politics · Pregnancy · Psychiatry · Psychological distress · Reproductive justice · Clinical Psychology · Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse · Law · Psychology · Reproductive Health and Contraception · Reproductive Health and Technologies

• “The Call is [Also] Coming From Inside the House”

  Open Access•Laurel B Watson, Mary E Hunt et al.•Psychology of Women Quarterly•2026

  Incluir item

• The Pregnancy-Related Objectification Beliefs Scale (PROBS)

  Open Access•Sarah J Gervai, Olivia R Checkalski et al.•Psychology of Women Quarterly•2026

  Incluir item

• Reproductive Justice for All

  Janeen Cro, JaNeen Cross•Social Work in Public Health•2025

  Incluir item

• Introduction to the Special Issue on Gender-Based Violence

  Open Access•Samantha M Gavin, Shavonne Arthurs•Crime & Delinquency•2024

  Incluir item

• Abortion Stigma and Dehumanization as Reproductive Control

  Open Access•Laurel B Watson, Sarah J Gervai et al.•Psychology of Women Quarterly•2026

  Incluir item

• The Impact of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization on Young Women's Experiences of Objectification and Sexual Well-Being

  Open Access•Erin Nolen, Jaclyn A Siegel et al.•Psychology of Women Quarterly•2024

  Incluir item

• Mobilizing for Reproductive Justice

  Open Access•Erin M McConocha, P R Grzanka•Psychology of Women Quarterly•2025

  Incluir item

• Navigating Abortion Stigma

  Open Access•Kathleen O’Shea, Laurel B Watson•Sex Roles•2025

  Incluir item

• A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance

  Leon Festinger•A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance•1957

  Incluir item

• Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Pregnancy-Related Deaths — United States, 2007–2016

  Open Access•Emily E Petersen, Nicole L Davis et al.•MMWR. Surveillance Summaries•2019

  Incluir item

• The Giving Voice to Mothers study

  Open Access•Saraswathi Vedam, the GVtM-US Steering Council et al.•Reproductive Health•2019

  Incluir item

• Using heteroskedasticity-consistent standard error estimators in OLS regression

  Open Access•Andrew F Hayes, Li Cai•Behavior Research Methods•2007

  Incluir item

• The Dual Process Motivational Model of Ideology and Prejudice

  Open Access•John Duckitt, C G Sibley•Cambridge Handbook of the…•2016

  Incluir item

• The structure of negative emotional states

  Open Access•Peter F Lovibond, S H Lovibond•Behaviour Research and Therapy•1995

  Incluir item

• Reproductive Justice

  Loretta Ross, Rickie Solinger•Reproductive Justice•2019

  Incluir item

• The relations among microaggressions, collective action, and psychological outcomes among sexual minority Latinx people

  Mirella Flores Randelman, Laurel B Watson•Journal of Latinx Psychology•2023

  Incluir item

• Abortion Stigma

  Open Access•Franz Hanschmidt, Katja Linde et al.•Perspectives on Sexual and…•2016

  Incluir item

• Authoritarian attitudes are associated with higher autonomic reactivity to stress and lower recovery

  Johan Lepage, Laurent Bègue et al.•Emotion•2020

  Incluir item

• A Prospective Cohort Study of the Effect of Receiving versus Being Denied an Abortion on Educational Attainment

  Open Access•Lauren Ralph, Lauren J Ralph et al.•Women s Health Issues•2019

  Incluir item

• Side Effects, Physical Health Consequences, and Mortality Associated with Abortion and Birth after an Unwanted Pregnancy

  Open Access•Caitlin Gerdts, Loren Dobkin et al.•Women s Health Issues•2015

  Incluir item

• Bisexual women’s discrimination and mental health outcomes

  Laurel B Watson, Sydney K Morgan et al.•Psychology of Sexual Orientation…•2018

  Incluir item

• Resilience and collective action

  Aaron S Breslow, Melanie Brewster et al.•Psychology of Sexual Orientation…•2015

  Incluir item

• Attitudes Toward Abortion After Receiving vs. Being Denied an Abortion in the USA

  Open Access•Katie Woodruff, M Antonia Biggs et al.•Sexuality Research and Social…•2018

  Incluir item

• Pro-choice and Pro-life Are Not Enough

  Open Access•B J Rye, Angela Underhill•Sexuality & Culture•2020

  Incluir item

• Group-Level Coping as a Moderator Between Heterosexism and Sexism and Psychological Distress in Sexual Minority Women

  Open Access•Dawn M Szymanski, Gina P Owens•Psychology of Women Quarterly•2009

  Incluir item

• Toward an Intersectional Psychological Science of Reproductive Norms

  Open Access•Rachel A Fikslin•Psychology of Women Quarterly•2021

  Incluir item

• Rising Up, Pushing Forward

  Open Access•Laurel B Watson, C N Hargons et al.•Psychology of Women Quarterly•2023

  Incluir item

• The Protective Power of Collective Action for Sexual Minority Women of Color

  Open Access•Cirleen Deblaere, Melanie Brewster et al.•Psychology of Women Quarterly•2013

  Incluir item

• The US in Uterus

  Open Access•Dena Abbott, Rin Nguyen et al.•Psychology of Women Quarterly•2023

  Incluir item

• Sexual-Minority College Women's Experiences with Discrimination

  Open Access•Carly K Friedman, Carly Friedman et al.•Psychology of Women Quarterly•2010

  Incluir item

• Exploring Sexual Minority Women’s Experiences of External and Internalized Heterosexism and Sexism and their Links to Coping and Distress

  Open Access•Dawn M Szymanski, Christy Henrichs-Beck•Sex Roles•2013

  Incluir item

• Relations Among Dimensions of Feminism and Internalized Heterosexism in Lesbians and Bisexual Women

  Open Access•Dawn M Szymanski•Sex Roles•2004

  Incluir item

• Rhetorics of reproductive justice and injustice in the aftermath of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization

  Karrin Vasby Anderson•Quarterly Journal of Speech•2022

  Incluir item

• Counseling Psychology and Reproductive Justice

  Open Access•P R Grzanka, Keri A Frantell•The Counseling Psychologist•2017

  Incluir item

• Handling Item-Level Missing Data

  Open Access•Mike C Parent•The Counseling Psychologist•2012

  Incluir item

• A Moderated Mediation Test of Minority Stress

  Open Access•Brandon L Velez, Bonnie Moradi•The Counseling Psychologist•2016

  Incluir item

• Abortion Knowledge and Attitudes Among Psychologists and Graduate Students

  Open Access•Debra Mollen, C N Hargons et al.•The Counseling Psychologist•2018

  Incluir item

• A Brief Guide to Structural Equation Modeling

  Open Access•Rebecca Weston, Paul A Gore•The Counseling Psychologist•2006

  Incluir item

• A Concomitant Examination of the Relations of Perceived Racist and Sexist Events to Psychological Distress for African American Women

  Open Access•Bonnie Moradi, Linda Mezydlo Subich•The Counseling Psychologist•2003

  Incluir item

• Women Deserve Better

  Amanda Roberti•Women & Politics•2021

  Incluir item

• Responding to membership in a disadvantaged group

  Stephen C Wright, D M Taylor et al.•Journal of Personality and Social…•1990

  Incluir item

• Abortion as stigma

  Brenda Major, Richard H Gramzow•Journal of Personality and Social…•1999

  Incluir item

• Conceptualising abortion stigma

  Anuradha Kumar, Leila Hessini et al.•Culture Health & Sexuality•2009

  Incluir item

• I wouldn't even know where to start

  Open Access•Jenny O''Donnell, Jenny O’donnell et al.•Reproductive Health Matters•2018

  Incluir item

• A power primer

  Jacob Cohen•Psychological Bulletin•1992

  Incluir item

• Different and Not Equal

  Open Access•Alexa L Solazzo•Social Problems•2019

  Incluir item