Katie Watson, JD discusses her book Scarlet A: The Ethics, Law, and Politics of Ordinary Abortion
Channel: HMS Center for Bioethics
Date: 2021-03-12

Scarlet A: The Ethics, Law, and Politics of Ordinary Abortion with author Katie Watson, JD 


The Contemporary Author in Bioethics series hosted author Katie Watson, JD, in a discussion of her book, Scarlet A on March 8, 2021.

In her book, Watson explores the personal stigma that prevents many from sharing their abortion experiences with friends and family in private conversation, and the structural stigma that keeps it that way. She argues that our silence around private experience with abortion has distorted our public discourse. Both proponents and opponents of abortion's legality tend to focus on the extraordinary cases, which keeps the public discourse polarized and contentious, and keeps the focus on the cases that occur the least. Katie Watson focuses instead on the remaining 95% of abortion cases. Watson gives the reflective reader a more accurate impression of what the majority of American abortion practice really looks like. It explains why this public/private disjuncture exists, what it costs us, and what can be gained by including ordinary abortion in public debate.
  
Katie Watson, JD, teaches law, ethics, and humanities to medical students and students in the Northwestern University master's program in bioethics and medical humanities. Prior to teaching she clerked in the federal judiciary and practiced public interest law. She is a bioethicist who completed fellowships in clinical medical ethics at University of Chicago Medical School MacLean Center and medical humanities at Feinberg School of Medicine.


Find more information about this event series at bioethics.hms.harvard.edu/events