University of Maryland faculty members have specific expertise and insight to offer regarding the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Please contact mediainfo@umd.edu for more information or for help setting up interviews.
Julia Steinberg, associate professor of family science in the UMD School of Public Health, researches whether abortion causes or increases the risk of mental health problems. Her recent findings were cited just last month in this New York Times article.
David Karol, associate professor of government and politics, is an expert on U.S. elections, political parties and Congress, and can speak specifically to how the SCOTUS decision may impact the 2022 midterm elections and rise to the top of the national political agenda. Read his opinion piece in The Washington Post from December 2021, “Abortion will remain a national issue no matter what the Supreme Court does.”
Bonnie Thornton Dill, Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, is a pioneering scholar on the intersections of race, class and gender in the U.S, and can speak to how the Supreme Court ruling may impact women and families in minority communities.
Patrick Wohlfarth, associate professor of government and politics, is a scholar of judicial politics, the impact of public opinion and opinion writing. He also co-authored two books: The Conscientious Justice: How Supreme Court Justices' Personalities Influence the Law, the High Court, and the Constitution (Cambridge University Press, 2020); and U.S. Supreme Court Opinions and Their Audiences (Cambridge University Press, 2016).
Elizabeth Aparicio, assistant professor of behavioral and community health in the School of Public Health and a licensed clinical social worker, is an expert on the relationships between childhood and adolescent trauma, sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and sexual and reproductive health. She can speak to the impact of restricted abortion access on women who have experienced sexual trauma and women from marginalized populations. Her research on intergenerational trauma was recently featured in this NPR piece.
Michael Spivey, senior lecturer in the Department of Government and Politics, teaches courses on public law including Current Issues in the Supreme Court. He is also interested in the role of the courts in the culture wars, which was the topic of his dissertation; “Culture Warriors Go to Court: The Supreme Court and the Culture Wars.”
Jamie Trevitt, associate clinical professor of epidemiology and biostatistics in the School of Public Health, studies population and reproductive health and has researched unintended pregnancy, abortion, and use/choice of contraception both domestically and internationally.
Amy Lewin, associate professor of family science in the School of Public Health is a trained clinical psychologist who has more than 20 years experience researching reproductive health and teen pregnancy. She can speak about the impact of the SCOTUS decision on adolescent mental and reproductive health.
Susan Parker, professor of public policy, is an expert on education, health, and the evaluation of programs and public policies. She is also associate director of the Maryland Population Research Center and can speak to the impact restricting abortion has on specific populations of women.
(Note: This list will be continually updated)