Research
I see the imperative of engaging in multidisciplinary collaborations to investigate and problem solve the social and legal challenges facing us today. My research focuses on reproductive health, rights, and justice; international and comparative health law; comparative health systems; health policy and reform; health professional regulations; pregnancy and maternal health; abortion; contraception; and the intersection of racism, gender, socioeconomic status, and health disparities.
Dissertation Project
Sorting Pregnant Bodies: A Genealogy of Segregated Pregnancy Care
I will take a qualitative grounded theory approach through patient, provider, and stakeholder interviews, meeting observations, and archival research to trace how our complex, multi-payer health care financing system interacts with professional power and administrative burden to construct and reproduce separate health care systems and distinct standards of care for pregnant people enrolled in public insurance versus private insurance.
My research investigates how and why these macro forces co-construct and reproduce separate maternity care systems, perinatal clinics, and standards of care; how separate clinical spaces and distinct standards of care serve and disserve pregnant people enrolled in public insurance -- especially Black, Indigenous, and other pregnant people of color; and how the interaction of our health system’s financing and historical professional power structures influence access to midwifery and other low intervention maternity care models for low income and BIPOC pregnant people.
Connecting Research and Advocacy
“'Human rights litigation brings attention to health campaigns and supports local and global movements and coalitions to improve women’s health,' said Jennifer Templeton Dunn, JD, a lecturer at UC Hastings College of the Law whose research, writing and advocacy focuses on women’s health and reproductive justice . . . "
For more on my research on international law and the right to health, visit UCGHI's media page: Human Rights Lawyers Rule in Favor of Women's Health.
Connecting Research & Advocacy to Teaching
"UC Hastings professor fights for social justice and gender equity as a lawyer, health policy researcher, author, and teacher."
For more on my teaching and advocacy, visit UC Hastings Law media page: Professor Jennifer Dunn brings Reproductive Justice Advocacy to the Classroom."