Binaries & Boundaries: Confronting the limits of the reproductive health agenda

Vyoma Dhar Sharma, Adjunct Professor, School of Health, Georgetown University, Postdoctoral Fellow, O'Neill Institute

This talk critiques the binary framing of “pro-choice” versus “pro-life” by examining how global public health and reproductive rights remain shaped by a stable, post-Cold War American worldview. It explores how this worldview constrains the possibilities for health and reproductive justice by defining intervention and change within limits set by dominant powers. Anchored in a discussion of pivotal events from 1994, the talk situates these dynamics within a broader critique of global health governance. The discussion draws on my doctoral research, which offers a deeper understanding of how reproductive health interventions perpetuate systemic inequities while ostensibly aiming for progress.

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