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2024
Women’s Health UK: 'Trump's re-election will be devastating for women’s health, worldwide. But abortion rights movements are up to the fight'
I wrote a piece on the implications of Trump’s re-election for reproductive rights and justice globally. It was a bit more ‘pop-ified’ than my usual writing, but i was glad to try and reach a new audience. The instagram post on their official account was overrun with horrifically incorrect comments and abortion stigma - but abortion stalwarts like Manna Mostaghim, amongst others, waded in to patiently (and hilariously) correct each comment.
You can read the piece here. An edited version was posted on KCL’s Poll to Poll blog here. I was also quoted in a post on the implications of Trump’s victory.
Medical Paternalism & Public Healthcare
I was a discussant for South Asia @ LSE’s panel on Paternalism & Public Healthcare in October 2024. My understanding of paternalism is located firmly in critical social science and draws on empirical evidence, so my interrogation of it is through the lens of how people are disciplined or not, how social norms are reproduced, and how medical knowledge is reinforced. I was challenged by a - somewhat off topic- comment on abortion and how ‘value for life’ is conceptualised. As with any of these things, I wish I had the time to say more or say things a little differently (e.g., why is care gendered? why must you care for abortions to be valid? this is also how stigma plays out in the medical encounter, and what I really wish I’d said: “this is paternalism in action”). The full video is below, but I’ve started it at the timestamp I respond to this question.
What’s in an abortion? ‘Zine making workshop
Following our successful ‘zine workshop in 2023, Dr Strong and I were invited to run our workshop at the Doctors for Choice UK and Abortion Talk annual conference. An incredibly fun event, we have added to our ‘zine collection. Plans to work with these coming soon!
Nirnay: Abortion Comics
[New Internationalist]
Some of the work I’ve been doing with the Asia Safe Abortion Partnership [see here] on creating abortion comics was featured in the New Internationalist’s abortion issue.
There are a couple of inaccuracies in the text that I’ve corrected.
Viruses & Reproductive Injustice: Zika in Brazil
[Book Launch]
I was a panellist for Professor Ilana Löwy’s book launch - Viruses & Reproductive Injustice: Zika in Brazil. It was a real pleasure to share a panel with Prof Ann Kelly and the Prof Rayna Rapp, discussing an important intervention in reproduction studies and global health.
2023
What’s in an abortion? ‘Zine making workshop
In November 2023, Dr Joe Strong and I organised a well-attended ‘zine making workshop as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science. Funded by KCL’s ESRC FoSS, we produced ‘zines discussing and interrogating abortion and abortion stigma. We produced new narratives of abortion, as part of our broader abortion & other stories project.
Bioethics & Global Health: In Search of Common Ground
I chaired the ‘Bioethics & Global Health: In Search of Common Ground’ panel, organised by the excellent Black and Brown in Bioethics team.
2022
In Conversation… with Dr Annabel Sowewimo [WORLD…We Got This podcast, KCL]
I spoke with Dr Annabel Sowewimo for KCL’s WORLD…We Got This podcast, where we discussed how she first got into sexual reproductive health, her role as a Community Sexual Reproductive Health Registrar, and why she founded the Reproductive Justice Initiative. You can read more here. Listen to the podcast below!
Who should be a mother?: ReProductive Conversations
I spoke with colleagues at BPAS about how ‘overpopulation’ demarcates some bodies and reproduction as valued, while marking others as in need of control. Contraceptive technology, thus, becomes a tool in pushing such logics through voluntary family programmes and interventions.
This conversation draws on my paper ‘What’s so troubling about voluntary family planning anyway?’ published in Population Studies.
Roe v Wade: The global ripple effects
I spoke to LSE about the impact of overturning Roe v Wade on abortion movements and the potential bolstering of anti-abortion & populist movements worldwide.
2021
Talking about and visualising abortion research with Professor Ernestina Coast for the LSE Research Showcase 2021
Professor Ernestina Coast & I discussed our work on visualising abortion research, the conundrums we confronted, & why we think it’s important to challenge images of headless women accompanying abortion articles!
Cutting Edge Issues in International Development: Decolonising Academia with Prof Akosua Adomako Ampofo
In January 2021, I was discussant for a great lecture by Professor Akosua Adomako Ampofo at LSE’s Department of International Development’s Cutting Edge Issues in International Development Lecture Series.
The Power to Say Yes, The Right to Say No: In Conversation with Dr Natalia Kanem
Hosted by LSE’s Global Health Initiative, I chaired a conversation with UNFPA’s Executive Director Dr Natalia Kanem (March 2021).
2020
#28Sept Abortion Rights UK Summer School, Video
In August 2020, I participated in a lecture session for Abortion Rights UK’s Summer School where I discussed women’s understandings of abortion safety and risk. An excerpt was used for an advocacy video for September 28th, International Day of Action for Safe Abortion.
Extending 'camaraderie' and cohort identity online: #LSEEdForum
LSE’s Eden Centre, which focuses on educational enhancement, teaching and student experiences at the LSE, invited me to present at the LSE Education Forum. I presented on some of our efforts on building camaraderie within our MSc cohort at the start of the pandemic:
'Can you keep a secret?': methodological considerations for abortion research
In August 2020, I presented my work on secrecy and abortion at UCL’s Qualitative Health Research Network. “Can you keep a secret?” grapples with the paradox of secrecy in abortion research: (i) navigating secrecy to recruit participants who have terminated a pregnancy and are willing to reveal this information, while (ii) maintaining and securing that secrecy.
Ecofeminism: gender, justice, and planetary health
On this panel organised by UCL’s Centre for Gender and Global Health, I discussed some of my work on reproductive justice and focused on a critique of Neo-malthsuian emphasis on fertility control in the Global South to tackle climate emergency.
LSE-Oxford Seminar Series: Health, Poverty and Human Development
LSE’s Department of International Development & Oxford’s Department of International Development hosted a series of seminars on considering international development in times of pandemic.
I was on a panel on health and poverty with Dr Sabina Alkire (Oxford), and tag-teamed on our presentation on abortion and reproductive health during COVID-19 with Professor Ernestina Coast (LSE).