The Reversal of Roe v. Wade and the Psychological Assault on Women: Discussion of Papers by Sally Bjorklund and Hillary Grill

Abstract

In their papers, Sally Bjorklund and Hillary Grill investigate the negative impact of the reversal of Roe v. Wade on women’s ability to choose when and how to manage their bodies and minds. Bjorklund offers an historical perspective, while Grill presents personal and clinical material to illustrate how misogyny and male dominance are reinforced through the intersection of externally imposed laws, socially transmitted beliefs, and the perpetuation of such beliefs through models of mind that implicitly devalue women—models such as psychoanalysis. I invite psychoanalysts to continue to interrogate misogyny while also asking how our clinical work might challenge and change psychoanalytic theorizing about female development, theorizing that continues to pathologize women and valorize male dominance.

Keywords:

• abortion
• feminist psychoanalysis
• Roe v. Wade reversal
• trauma
• women’s subjectivity

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ Although she was considered a 1960’s liberal who believed in equality between black and white people, my mother’s reaction now seems derogatory. Her assumption that Ruby had access to contraception and chose not to use it suggests an implicitly racist belief that Ruby and her partner were behaving irresponsibly.

² As Chalker (2023) notes, the repeal of Roe reduces access to many types of medical care, particularly threatening underprivileged women due to the closure of community-based general practice and family planning clinics that offer services such as gynecology, cardiology and wellness visits.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Caryn Sherman-Meyer

Caryn Sherman-Meyer, LCSW, is faculty, supervisor and training analyst at the National Institute for the Psychotherapies and other psychoanalytic institutes in New York. She is past director of NIP’s Four-Year Adult Training Program in Psychoanalysis and Comprehensive Psychotherapy, founding director of its License Qualifying Program in Psychoanalysis and a member of its Board of Directors. Caryn teaches and writes about therapeutic action, eating disorders and the experience of mothering. She practices and supervises individuals, groups and couples in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis in New York City.