The Role of Research

    Research plays a pivotal role in our responsibility to women to be their allies, advocates, and an activist for their rights. As psychologists, we are obligated to society to become involved in“public policy to inform social practices” and use this scientific and professionally acquired knowledge to advocate for better human conditions (Melton, 2018). Melton (2018) also suggests that psychologists are ethically bound by the APA’s ethical guidelines to “protect civil and human rights” and offer aid to society in “developing informed judgments and choices concerning human behavior.

    In the case of a woman’s right to bodily autonomy, Jozkowski et al. (2019), even before Texas enacted the Heartbeat Act, recognized the implications of overturning Roe v. Wade. The study conducted by Jozkowski and colleagues (2019) sought to comprehensively examine and understand people’s knowledge and sentiments of Roe versus Wade. They found that most people knew that the Roe v. Wade court decision pertained to abortion and that overturning this decision could result in individual states enacting laws restricting abortions to varying degrees, including banning the act altogether. Despite this, Jozkowski et al. (2019) also found that over half of their sample provided responses indicating they were uninformed about how the Supreme Court decision functions. Specifically, 65% of respondents failed to demonstrate knowledge that upon reversal of Roe v. Wade, abortions would not be banned nationwide; instead, the decision would be diverted to individual states' discretion. This would result in some states having no abortion laws, some having restrictions, and some preventing women from terminating all pregnancies (Jozkowski et al., 2019).

References

Jozkowski, K. N., Crawford, B. L., Turner, R. C., & Lo, W. J. (2019). Knowledge and sentiments of Roe v. Wade in the wake of Justice Kavanaugh’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 17(2), 285–300. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-019-00392-2 

Melton, M. L. (2018). Ally, activist, advocate: Addressing role complexities for the multiculturally competent psychologist. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 49(1), 83–89. https://doi.org/10.1037/pro0000175