The Nursing Clio Reader

On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturned Roe v. Wade, stripping federal protection for abortion rights and placing control in the hands of individual states. This monumental shift in policy underscores the need for deeper historical perspectives on reproductive rights.

The Nursing Clio Reader answers that call, bringing together essays that examine reproductive health through historical research and personal experience. Featuring both new and classic pieces from the Nursing Clio blog, leading historians of reproductive health provide insights that connect past struggles with today’s ongoing battles. This collection offers intimate, urgent scholarship that speaks to the present moment.

A powerful resource for classrooms and individual readers alike, The Nursing Clio Reader invites reflection on how the past informs current debates, urging us to engage deeply with the history of reproductive justice in a time of unprecedented change.

JACQUELINE D. ANTONOVICH is an assistant professor of history at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. She is the co-founder and executive editor of Nursing Clio, a peer-reviewed blog project that ties historical scholarship to present-day issues related to gender, health, and medicine.

SARAH E. HANDLEY-COUSINS is a historian, writer, and podcaster located in Buffalo, New York. Her first book, Bodies in Blue: Disability in the Civil War North, was released by UGA Press in July 2019. She is Clinical Assistant Professor of History and Associate Director of the Center for Disability Studies at the University at Buffalo. She is also an editor for the history blog Nursing Clio and producer for Dig: A History Podcast.

LAURA ANSLEY is managing editor of the American Historical Association, where she manages Perspectives on History, the AHA’s booklets, the annual meeting program, and other publications. She is co-facilitator of the Humanities and Social Sciences Publishing Professionals community of interest for the Society of Scholarly Publishing.