Name: Imogen Notaro
Social Justice Group: 2020-2021, Poverty & Abortion Access
Date of Fieldwork: February 19, 2021
Person (people) with whom you met and their title(s) & Name of Organization: Mariely Neris Rodriguez, Director of Client Services at the Brigid Alliance
Type of Fieldwork: Interview
What I learned about Social Justice “work” and/or Civil and Human rights “work” from this fieldwork:
In the early 1900s and before that, abortion was a very common procedure. Restrictions came at the legal level because doctors became concerned about people going through abortions at home and not having completed abortions. There could be medical consequences and fatalities. Doctors tried to introduce legislation to restrict at-home abortions or “back-alley” abortions so people would come to doctors to get medical care for abortions (not because they wanted it to be illegal). Other people came in with personal or religious beliefs and it grew from there. Between ¼ and ⅓ of all people who can become pregnant will have at least one abortion during their lifetime.
