On Friday 24 June, the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade ending 50 years of federal abortion rights. 26 states are expected to ban abortion immediately or as soon as possible. The ruling has sent shockwaves throughout the US where pro-choice supporters immediately condemned it while many conservatives praised the decision. President Biden condemned the ruling, calling it a “tragic error” and even accused the Supreme Court of “outrageous behaviour”. But what will be the impact of this ruling outside of the US? How will it affect women’s rights globally? Will this decision open the door to other rights that have previously been protected? These are the questions that we will be looking at in this episode of What Matters Today.

Our guest for this episode is Dr Nicole Bourbonnais, Associate Professor of International History and Politics here at the Geneva Graduate Institute. Dr Bourbonnais’ research focuses on the transnational history of reproduction, population, sex, motherhood and the family in the 20th century. Her first book, Birth Control in the Decolonizing Caribbean: Reproductive Politics and Practice on Four Islands, 1930-1970, traced how birth control campaigns in Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados, and Bermuda were shaped by colonialism, nationalist movements, social activism and working class women’s efforts to control their reproductive lives (credits: Channel 4 News).