Roberts, Dorothy

The Law's Role in Reproductive Freedom

Much of Roberts's work draws attention to the intrusive and coercive aspects of the law, and she demonstrates how many laws and judicial rulings have reinforced dominant social hierarchies of race, gender, and class that continue to pervade American culture. For example, in her 1998 award-winning book, Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty, Roberts bridges the scholarly gap between issues of race and issues of reproductive rights. In particular, she demonstrates how the discourses and ideologies that shape motherhood for black women are rooted in the slave system and the ways in which female slaves were denied control of their reproductive capacities.

It is this foundation that has, Roberts argues, continued to devalue black mothers by denying their humanity, limiting their reproductive freedom, and punishing them for their family choices throughout American history. Linking slavery with more contemporary legal issues, including contraception, population control, welfare, crime, and reproductive technologies, Roberts' analysis shows how black mothers have been systematically denied their reproductive freedoms in the United States.

Roberts' work is grounded in an understanding of the interlocking nature of oppressions, including the combined, multiplicative effects of racism, sexism, and classism. Thus, while much of her work examines the social construction of mothering for women of color, she has also attended to the experiences of low-income women and those deemed “criminals.” In her chapter, “Welfare's Ban on Poor Motherhood,” for example, Roberts reflects on the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunities Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), the welfare reform bill, arguing that it punishes poor women and denies their fundamental reproductive rights. Similarly, in “Women, Pregnancy, and Substance Abuse,” Roberts demonstrates that stereotypes of class and race play a central role in legal responses to the problems faced by pregnant, addicted women. Rather than treating addiction as a criminal issue and responding in punitive ways, she believes that legislators, health care providers, and law enforcement personnel must work together to provide effective treatment for addicted mothers.

Roberts is currently Kirkland and Ellis Professor at Northwestern University School of Law. In addition to maintaining an active research agenda and teaching schedule, she also engages in a variety of consulting activities. She is a faculty fellow at the Institute for Policy Research, faculty affiliate of the Joint Center for Poverty Research, member of the Board of Directors of the National Black Women's Health Imperative, and member of the Board of Directors of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform. Roberts is a former consultant to the Center for Woman Policy Studies and former member of the advisory board for the Program for Reproductive Rights and Health at the Open Society Institute.

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