Upcoming Lecture Opportunity

Chao-ju Chen, Associate Professor of Law, National Taiwan University

Wednesday, Nov. 16th,  4:30-6, IMU Sassafras Room

When American Legal Feminism Traveled Abroad:  Roe v. Wade and Transnational Feminism in Taiwan

Decided in 1973, Roe v. Wade is one of the most renowned U.S. Supreme Court decisions. It has become an icon for women’s right to abortion, and is described as “an engine of controversy” (Balkin 2005). Far from being limited to the United States, Roe’s impact has extended to many countries around the world. In this essay, I will investigate the changing meanings of Roe in the legalization of abortion and the women’s reproductive rights movement in Taiwan, and argue that the meanings and impacts of Roe for Taiwan have been shaped by the people who introduced the legal case to the island and by the conditions surrounding its introduction. That is to say, whether or not Roe promotes reproductive autonomy and equality depends on the local contexts in which Roe was conceived and adapted. Roe has served as a catalyst for women’s reproductive rights when it, along with American legal feminism, announced itself outside the United States. Needless to say, conservatives have engaged in anti-abortion efforts after Roe to counter the legalization of abortion, or have adapted a narrow reading of Roe to support harsh restrictions on legal access to abortion. Various adoptions of Roe are also demonstrations of American hegemony under which Roe became a point of reference for both abortion proponents and abortion opponents. I will also consider the relationship between Taiwanese feminists and American legal feminism. Is Taiwanese feminists’ adaptation of Roe an illustration of the globalization of American legal feminism, under which American feminists’ legal framing of abortion rights became a universal legal framing of women’s reproductive rights as “the right to choose” or “the right of privacy,” therefore excluding the possibilities of an alternative framing of women’s reproductive rights? Or does Roe constitute a kind of transnational feminism, which has exemplified the possibility of political solidarity among feminists across the globe, according to the concrete experiences of women? The answer is both yes and no.