Protect and Control: Coverture's Logics Across Welfare Policy and Abortion Law
Margaret Mary Downey1, Clare Daniel2, Anne McGlynn-Wright3
1School of Social Work, Tulane University, New Orleans, USA.
Psychology of Women Quarterly
|April 12, 2024
Summary
Following the Dobbs decision, abortion bans and welfare restrictions reveal historical patterns of control over women and pregnant people. These policies, rooted in coverture, disproportionately harm marginalized groups.
Area of Science:
- Socio-legal studies
- Public health policy
- Gender studies
Background:
- The overturning of federal abortion rights has led to state-level criminalization of the procedure.
- Restrictions in social welfare programs like the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) impact low-income pregnant individuals and parents.
- The regulation of abortion and social welfare programs is significantly influenced by race, class, and gender.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze how abortion bans and social welfare restrictions claim to protect but ultimately control, police, and surveil women and pregnant people.
- To examine the reliance on stereotypes of vulnerability, irresponsibility, or irrationality in these policies.
- To explore the historical roots of these restrictions in the British Common Law doctrine of coverture.
Main Methods:
- Historical legal analysis of British Common Law and its influence on American laws.
- Examination of contemporary abortion bans and social welfare program regulations.
- Socio-legal and feminist theoretical frameworks applied to policy analysis.
Main Results:
- Abortion restrictions and social welfare policies mirror the historical control exerted by coverture, subsuming individuals' identities.
- These policies perpetuate harm by relying on stereotypes and functioning as mechanisms of surveillance and control.
- The cumulative harms disproportionately affect women, poor individuals, people of color, and pregnant people.
Conclusions:
- The logics of coverture continue to shape contemporary health and social welfare landscapes, impacting marginalized groups.
- Psychologists and mental health providers have ethical obligations to address these issues in practice and advocacy.
- Recommendations are provided for mental health professionals to navigate the ethical dilemmas posed by these pervasive legal and social logics.
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