In response to a leaked Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that guaranteed all American women autonomy over their own bodies, Kristen Ghodsee reflects on the Romanian experience as well as a 1936 interview with Kollontai on the reversal of the 1920 Soviet law that made the Soviet Union the first country in the world to grant women access to abortion. In this interview Kollontai explains:

"As long as women or men live under the pressure of unemployment, as long as the level of wages is not sufficient for a family, as long as housing conditions are unfavourable, and as long as the state does not make motherhood easier for every woman in various ways and does not provide social services for mother and child, it is clear that the women must stand up for free abortions."

Also mentioned in this article are:

Gail Kligman, The Politics of Duplicity: Controlling Reproduction in Ceausescu's Romania. Berkeley: UC Press, 1998

Maria Bucur and Kristen Ghodsee, "How Banning Abortion Will Transform America" Project Syndicate,  May 15, 2019

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Kristen R. Ghodsee is the award-winning author of twelve books and Professor of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Check out Kristen Ghodsee's recent books:

• Everyday Utopia
• Red Valkyries
• Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism
• Second World, Second Sex

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Learn more about Kristen Ghodsee's work: www.kristenghodsee.com or request to follow her on Instagram @prof_kristen