Graduate Studies
First Advisor
Dena M. Abbott
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Committee Members
Sofia Jawed-Wessel, Tierny Lorenz, Wayne Babchuk
Department
Educational Psychology
Date of this Version
5-2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Citation
A dissertation presented to the Graduate College of the University of Nebraska in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Major: Educational Psychology (Counseling Psychology)
Under the supervision of Professor Dena M. Abbott
Lincoln, Nebraska, May 2025
Abstract
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) overturned Roe v. Wade in their decision within Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, removing the constitutional right to abortion within the United States (US). Leading up to this anticipated and highly politicized case, 13 states passed preemptive legislation (i.e. “trigger bans”) that immediately made abortion illegal following the Dobbs decision. Limited research has explicitly explored the intersection of sexual health and reproductive health from a psychological perspective. Grounded in a reproductive justice framework, this interpretative phenomenological analysis sought to understand how people capable of pregnancy living within trigger ban states experienced Dobbs and how, if at all, it impacted their sexual subjectivity. Eleven participants were interviewed and five themes emerged from their stories: 1) Sense-Making of Overturn Through Systems, 2) Perceived Impact of Overturn as it Relates to Diverse Privileges, 3) Reduced Reproductive Agency as Reproductive Being, 4) Intrapersonal Understanding and Enactment of Sexual Subjectivity, and 5) Reclaiming Lost Self-Expression and Connection Post-Overturn. Overall, the participants’ experience of the overturning of Roe v. Wade varied based on a few important factors, namely the degree to which they approved of the overturn, their desire for a pregnancy, and their willingness to have an abortion in the future, such that those in support of the overturn who wanted to become pregnant and were unwilling to have an abortion appeared to experience it the least negatively. Additionally, findings suggest that these factors protected the participants from changes in their sexual subjectivity. Clinical and policy implications are discussed.
Advisor: Dena M. Abbott
Recommended Citation
Bohmer, Carrie, "The Overturning of Roe v. Wade and People Capable of Pregnancy: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis" (2025). Dissertations and Doctoral Documents from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–. 331.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissunl/331
Included in
Counseling Psychology Commons, Educational Psychology Commons, Health Psychology Commons, Human Factors Psychology Commons, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Commons, Social Psychology Commons, Women's Health Commons, Women's Studies Commons
Comments
Copyright 2025, Carrie Bohmer. Used by permission