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GRACE E. HOWARD, PHD



Grace Howard is an Assistant Professor of Justice Studies at San José State University.  She earned her Ph.D. in Political Science at Rutgers University. Her new book, The Pregnancy Police: Conceiving Crime, Arresting Personhood is under contract with University of California Press.

Grace was an American Fellow with the American Association for University Women for the 2016-2017 academic year and is Co-Director of the Rutgers University Informed Consent Project.

Grace has authored several published works, including "The Pregnancy Police: Surveillance, Regulation, and Control" in Harvard Law and Policy Review, The Gender of Crime (2nd edition), "The Limits of Pure White: Raced Reproduction in the Methamphetamine Crisis," in the Women's Rights Law Reporter, and "Informed or Misinformed Consent?: Abortion Policy in the United States," published in the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law.

Grace's research areas include reproductive law and politics, law and society, bioethics, criminal justice, gender and public policy, feminist theory, and critical race theory.

Her dissertation, entitled The Criminalization of Pregnancy: Rights, Discretion, and the Law, examines arrests of pregnant people for crimes against their own pregnancies. Her body of work explores reproductive law and policy, and the dimensions of legal personhood for people with the capacity for pregnancy.
Grace's CV

Recent News

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Grace talked with Mel Leonor Barclay at The 19th about Rep. Nancy Mace's calls for compromise on abortion.
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On February 1, Grace will participate in a Zoom recorded round table discussion on Reproductive Justice, Politics, and Racism in the US. Join us! Click the flyer for a registration link.
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Grace spoke to Alanna Vagianos at Huffington Post to talk about the Alabama AG's pledge to use the state's Chemical Endangerment law to charge people who take abortion pills.
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Grace talked to Alanna Vagianos at Huffington Post about the implications of so-called "fetal personhood."
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Grace presented at the National Harm Reduction Coalition Meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico
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Grace talked to Leire Ventas at BBC News about the advocates in Mexico helping people in the United States access abortion.
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Grace talked to Spectrum 1 News about Medication Abortion access post Dobbs.
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Grace joined the Dr. Joe Show podcast to talk about the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
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Grace talked to BBC News Mundo about the criminalization of pregnancy.
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Grace talked with US News and World Report about the end of Roe v. Wade.
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Grace talked with Huffington Post about electronic footprints and the criminalization of pregnancy.
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Grace talked to Wilson Walker of CBS News Bay Area about Dobbs.
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Grace spoke with KRON4 about the Dobbs opinion.
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Grace talked to BBC News about Dobbs.
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Grace talked to Telemundo about the impact of the Dobbs decision.
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Grace talked to Andy Slavitt of In the Bubble to talk about the implications of the Dobbs decision.
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Grace talked to BBC News Mundo about the implications of the Dobbs case.
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Grace talked to BBC News Mundo about the Dobbs decision.
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Grace talked with Bay City News about the Dobbs decision.
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Grace talked to NBC News about the trouble with abortion exceptions.
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Grace talked to Huffington Post about the criminalization of pregnancy.
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Grace talked to US News and World Report about web security and the criminalization of pregnancy.
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Grace talked to US News and World Report about exceptions to abortion bans.
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Grace talked to KTVU about the end of Roe v. Wade
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Grace talked to Spectum News 1 Capital Tonight about the Dobbs leak.
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Grace talked to the Slovenian News Agency about the end of Roe v. Wade
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Grace talked with Kaia Hubbard at US News and World Report about the criminalization of abortion.
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Grace talked to Melissa Gira Grant at The New Republic about the criminalization of pregnancy.
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Grace talked to Carter Sherman at Vice about the implications of the Dobbs decision leak for other civil rights.
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Grace talked to Jacob Fischler and Ariana Figueroa at States Newsroom on the implications of the Dobbs decision.
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Grace talked with BeLynn Hollers of Dallas Morning News about abortion attitudes in Texas.
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Grace talked with MSNBC's Zerlina about Oklahoma's proposed abortion registry.
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Grace talked to Alanna Vagianos at Huffington Post about Oklahoma's newly proposed abortion registry.
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Grace spoke with AP Reporter John Hanna about the Supreme Court's suggestion that adoption is a workable alternative to abortion.
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Grace was recently interviewed by Claire Levenson for Marianne, a French publication, on the Dobbs case.
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Grace chatted with Alanna Vagianos from Huffington Post about the SCOTUS oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.
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Grace participated in a teach-in, hosted by the SJSU Gender Equity Center!
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Grace's article "The Pregnancy Police: Surveillance, Regulation, and Control" is published in Harvard Law and Policy Review!
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See Grace’s article on Alabama’s 2013 push for fetal personhood at Rewire.news!
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BIG NEWS!!! Grace accepted a position as Assistant Professor in the Department of Justice Studies at San Jose State University effective Fall 2019!!!
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Grace presented her research at a briefing on Tennessee's Fetal Assault law hosted by SisterReach-- a reproductive justice organization doing amazing work in Tennessee.
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Grace co-authored this powerful statement against the domestic gag rule. Read it in Ms. Magazine!
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Grace presented her work at the 2018 meeting of the American Society of Criminology in Atlanta, GA!
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Follow the link to Grace's research brief over at Scholars Strategy Network! https://scholars.org/brief/future-criminal-prosecution-self-induced-abortion-and-pregnancy-endangerment
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Grace presented her work on punitive approaches to pregnancy and drug use at the Healthy and Free Tennessee Annual Statewide Convening.
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Grace's chapter, "Illegitimate Appetites: Michelle Obama's Let's Move Campaign as Sexual Regulation," is included in this wonderful volume edited by Nikol Alexander-Floyd and Julia Jordan-Zachery! It will be available in November!
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In September, Grace attended a "research accelerator" workshop in Boston hosted by Scholars Strategy Network.
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Grace was selected as the Rutgers University Social Sciences Nominee for the CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award!
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In June 2018, Grace presented her work at the Law and Society Association meeting in Toronto!
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In May 2018, Grace attended a research workshop at UCSF's ANSIRH, part of the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health. The workshop was organized by the Scholars Strategy Network.
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In May 2018, Grace presented findings from the Informed Consent Project at a people's hearing of the Whole Women's Health Act in Atlanta, Georgia.
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Grace's work on the criminal prosecution of pregnant women is featured in a new Amnesty International report! To read the full report, click on the picture.
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Grace is happy to announce that she has joined the University of Southern Indiana as an Assistant Professor of Gender Studies!
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Grace presented her work at the 2017 Law and Society Association meeting in Mexico City. She also took a break to visit the home of Frida Kahlo.
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Rutgers Women and Politics made a strong showing at the 2017 European Conference on Politics and Gender in Lausanne, Switzerland.
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On May 22, 2017 the Rutgers University Women and Politics subfield celebrated its 30th Anniversary! Here are graduates of the program, celebrating at the Center for American Women and Politics.
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Grace talks to Rolling Stone (!!!) about state-mandated informed consent for abortion.
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Grace's review of Laury Oaks' Giving Up Baby has been published online ahead of print in the Journal of Women, Politics & Policy!
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In February 2017, Grace attended the Take Root Conference in Oklahoma. Here she is with Lynn Paltrow and Loretta Ross (above) and Dr. Willie Parker (below).
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Junctures in Women's Leadership: Business, edited by Hetfield & Britton has been published! Grace co-authored two chapters in the edited volume.
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Grace in Texas, meeting with Amy Miller, Director of Whole Women's Health, of Whole Women's Health v. Hellerstedt
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In April 2016, Grace and Cynthia Daniels traveled to Texas to give a talk at UT-Austin, and to present their research findings to the Texas Legislative Womens Health Caucus
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Grace attended a mini-conference on the politics and science of fetal tissues at Rutgers University.
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Grace is thrilled to announce that she has been awarded an American Fellowship by the AAUW for the 2016-2017 year!
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Mother Jones writes about Grace's Co-Authored Article on Informed Consent!
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Grace is excited to announce that she has been awarded the Stanley H. and Claire A. Friedelbaum Graduate Student Dissertation Fund Award for the 2016-2017 academic year!
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In June, Grace traveled to Uppsala, Sweden to participate in the biennial European Conference on Politics and Gender. Two of Grace's papers were presented at the conference.
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Grace's Co-Authored Article on Informed Consent has been published in the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law.
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In May, Grace presented her work at the Criminalization of Race in History and Global Sciences conference at Monmouth University, which featured two of the exonerated members of the Central Park Five case, Raymond Santana, and Kevin Richardson.
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In October, Grace attended the National Perinatal Association Conference, in Nashville Tennessee.
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