Date of Award

Summer 8-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Sociology & Criminal Justice

Program/Concentration

Criminology and Criminal Justice

Committee Director

Jeaneé C. Miller

Committee Member

Mona J. Danner

Committee Member

Jennifer C. Nash

Committee Member

Derek P. Siegel

Abstract

This dissertation investigates how historical and structural inequalities shape contemporary access to reproductive health services, licensed childcare facilities, and crisis pregnancy centers across Mississippi, Virginia, and Maryland. Using feminist geography, reproductive justice theory, and historical trauma theory, this research develops the concept of reproductive redlining to explore how race, policy, and space intersect to produce health disparities. By combining GIS mapping with multivariate statistical analysis and redlining data from the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC), the study evaluates spatial distributions and demographic correlates of facility access before and after the Dobbs decision. Findings reveal enduring spatial inequities that disproportionately impact Black women and families in southern states. This work contributes to criminological, geographic, and public health literatures by connecting past segregationist policies to present-day reproductive injustices, emphasizing the urgent need for equitable, place-based policy interventions. The results offer critical implications for improving reproductive autonomy and addressing racialized healthcare barriers.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

DOI

10.25777/78t3-9z54

ISBN

9798293843329

ORCID

0000-0001-5753-7640

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