Abstract

My research aims to explain the impact of anti-immigrant sentiment on the reproductive autonomy of migrant women. Legislators typically act as their constituents feel on a certain issue, so I aimed to explore how legislators responded with legislation when their constituents held higher levels of anti-immigrant sentiment, hypothesizing that this would lead to more legislation limiting the reproductive autonomy of migrant women. I explore topics of eugenics and how anti-immigrant sentiment has led to modern day eugenics.

My hypothesis did not manifest itself in the expected way, but the results do provide evidence for a causal link between legislation meant to improve the lives of citizens and an increase in anti-immigrant sentiment, with the strong example of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. Moreover, I provide an explanation as to how this relationship is present, but legislators are talking about it in a different way. At the end of my thesis, I provide recommendations for future research on this topic and discuss what I would have done differently or would improve in the future.

Advisor

Munoz, Avi

Department

Political Science

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | Law | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Keywords

reproductive autonomy, immigration, migrants, women, Texas, eugenics, abortion

Publication Date

2022

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis Exemplar

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