Nancy Davis shares her experience of being denied the right to terminate her pregnancy after her fetus was diagnosed with a rare skull abnormality that was incompatible with life with the Louisiana House of Chambers. (Image Sourced from Lift Louisiana)
Researching Access to Reproductive Care under Dr. Daniel
By Avery Edwards
In the spring semester, I continued as a research assistant for Dr. Clare Daniel at the Newcomb Institute. My role as Dr. Daniel’s research assistant includes organizing scholarly sources, identifying research methodology techniques, and preparing transcripts from the Louisiana House of Chambers of legislative sessions that impact our understanding of fetal personhood and maternal health outcomes. I have had the pleasure of working with Dr. Daniel as my point person, professional mentor, and faculty member that I worked under as a Peer Mentor in a first-year year TIDES class called Reproductive Politics in NOLA. Dr. Clare Daniel is a Senior Professor of Practice & Director of Research for the Newcomb Institute of Tulane University. In addition to her work within the Tulane community, Dr. Daniel has published her book Mediating Morality: The Politics of Teen Pregnancy in the Post-Welfare Era with the University of Massachusetts Press and works on the advisory board of the New Orleans Maternal and Child Health Coalition.
Dr. Daniel’s research identifies barriers that impact access to reproductive care in Louisiana and the intrusion of legislation and pro-choice verbiage that threatens the status of a pregnant person as an autonomous entity. Personal agendas fuel legislation that prioritizes the fetus instead of being patient-centered. The strict barriers to access to reproductive care in Louisiana put the life of both the fetus and the birthing person at risk. I feel incredibly grateful for my time with Dr. Daniel as a reminder of my responsibilities as a future physician practicing in spaces that do not offer a full range of comprehensive care. The hours of legislative sessions reveal physicians, policymakers, and normal people alike fighting for the right to seek abortion access.
My time in the RRRH Internship included work with legislation regarding reproductive healthcare, data collection on crisis pregnancy centers, and organizing literary resources, demonstrating the need to look through many different lenses to begin to grapple with the nuances of reproductive politics. I briefly did work for Dr. Raj in organizing suicide rates in parishes across the State and incidence of 911 calls for psychological emergencies, which gave me great insight into the field of mental healthcare and the role of EMS, which I participate in as a volunteer EMT for Tulane EMS and New Orleans EMS. I have enjoyed my ability to dip into my different interests while pursuing engaging research and learning opportunities. My role in acquiring contact information on crisis pregnancy centers ties into the need for reproductive healthcare units that are not religious-backed organizations founded on pro-life or anti-abortion ideals but that provide information about pregnancy-related concerns or questions about the termination of pregnancies. These delays to definitive care endanger the health of the birthing person and the fetus. My research and tasks under Dr. Daniel have helped me hone my critical thinking skills, ability to work on interfaces that I was previously unfamiliar with, and communicate with other experts to gain insight into practices that increase efficiency and effectiveness in completing my assigned tasks.
I am incredibly grateful for my experience with Dr. Clare Daniel and the Reproductive Rights and Reproductive Health Internship cohort. Dr. Daniel’s involvement in and outside the classroom is a testament to her commitment to addressing racial disparities in birth outcomes and caring for birthing people in New Orleans and beyond. Working under such an involved and passionate individual in reproductive justice and education has been an honor.
I look forward to my future endeavors with Dr. Daniel, which include the nuances of researching populations that are participating in illegal activities when seeking self-managed abortion care. Thank you to the Newcomb Institute, Dr. Daniel, and Grace, the RRRH Graduate Assistant, for supporting and uplifting this incredible program that propels us to participate in feminist epistemologies and reproductive politics work in New Orleans.