Position Title
Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law
Mary Ziegler is an expert on the law, history, and politics of reproduction, health care, and conservatism in the United States from 1945 to the present. She is a Guggenheim fellow and one of the world’s leading historians of the U.S. abortion debate.
She is the author or editor of numerous articles and seven books on social movement struggles around reproduction, autonomy, and the law. Her articles have appeared or are forthcoming in leading legal, medical, legal history, and public health journals, including the Yale Law Journal, the N.Y.U. Law Review, the Michigan Law Review, the Southern California Law Review, Law and History Review, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and the American Journal of Bioethics.
Her critically acclaimed books include Dollars for Life: The Anti-Abortion Movement and the Fall of the Republican Establishment (Yale University Press, 2022), Roe: The History of a National Obsession (Yale University Press, 2023), Abortion and the Law in America: Roe v. Wade to the Present (Cambridge University Press, 2020), Beyond Abortion: Roe v. Wade and the Fight for Privacy (Harvard University Press, 2018), Reproduction and the Constitution (Routledge, 2022), and the award-winning After Roe: The Lost History of the Abortion Debate (Harvard University Press, 2015), which won the Harvard University Press Thomas J. Wilson Prize for best first manuscript in any discipline. She is also the editor of a major international collection with Elgar Press about abortion law around the world. Her new book, Personhood: The New Civil War over Reproduction, is forthcoming with Yale University Press in 2025.
Ziegler has advised governors and members of Congress, submitted congressional testimony on questions involving reproduction, served on the committee of scholars charged with helping to create a museum of U.S. Women’s History, organized a major exhibit and conference at Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute on the 50th Anniversary of the Roe decision, and lectured on topics related to the history and law of reproduction to audiences around the world.
Her work has frequently appeared in or been covered by major national and international news outlets including ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, the New York Times, the Atlantic, PBS Newshour, CNN, and the Washington Post. She serves on the board of directors of the American Society for Legal History and has held positions of leadership on the American Association of Law Schools Section on Legal History and the American Bar Association’s Committee on Historic Commemorations.
Before coming to Davis, Ziegler served as the Daniel P.S. Paul Visiting Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School and the Stearns Weaver Miller Professor at Florida State University School of Law, where she won several teaching awards.
You can learn more about her scholarship here: https://www.maryrziegler.com/ or follow her on X at @maryrziegler.
- Harvard Law School, J. D., cum laude, June 2007
- Harvard College, B.A., magna cum laude, English and American Literature and Language and Romance Languages and Literatures, 2004
- 2023-2024 Guggenheim Fellowship
- Thomas J. Wilson Memorial Prize for Best First Book in Any Genre, Harvard University Press, 2014
- University Teaching Award, Florida State University, 2016
- The Transformation Through Teaching Award, Florida State University, 2015
- Torts
- Constitutional Law
- Reproductive Rights and Justice
- Gender, Sexuality and Law
- Legal History
- Employment Law
- Member, Committee of Scholars, Smithsonian Museum on U.S. Women’s History, 2024-
- Chair-Elect, American Association of Law Schools Section on Legal History, 2023-
- Board of Directors, American Society for Legal History, 2020-
- Executive Committee, American Association of Law Schools Section on Legal History, 2020-
- Chair, American Association of Law Schools Section on Legal History, 2016-2017
- Co-Chair, American Bar Association Committee on Historic Commemorations, 2016-2020
- Chair, Cromwell Article Prize Committee, American Society for Legal History, 2016-2017
- Cromwell Article Prize Committee, American Society for Legal History, 2015-2017
- Program Committee, American Society for Legal History, 2016-2018
- Chair-Elect, American Association of Law Schools Section on Legal History, January 2015-January 2015
- Secretary, American Association of Law Schools Section on Legal History, January 2015-December 2015
- Treasurer, American Association of Law Schools Section on Legal History, January 2014-December 2014
Publications
BOOKS AND BOOK CHAPTERS
PERSONHOOD: THE NEW WAR OVER REPRODUCTION IN AMERICA (forthcoming, Yale University Press 2025)
ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS AND JUSTICE (with Rachel Rebouché) (under contract, Elgar Press)
RESEARCH HANDBOOK ON INTERNATIONAL ABORTION LAW (editor) (forthcoming, 2023, Elgar Press)
ROE: THE HISTORY OF A NATIONAL OBSESSION (Yale University Press, forthcoming 2023)
DOLLARS FOR LIFE: THE ANTIABORTION MOVEMENT AND THE FALL OF THE REPUBLICAN ESTABLISHMENT (Yale University Press, 2022)
REPRODUCTION AND THE CONSTITUTION (Routledge, 2022)
ABORTION IN AMERICA: A LEGAL HISTORY, ROE V. WADE TO THE PRESENT (Cambridge University Press, 2020)
BEYOND ABORTION: ROE V. WADE AND THE FIGHT FOR PRIVACY (Harvard University Press, 2018)
AFTER ROE: THE LOST HISTORY OF THE ABORTION DEBATE (Harvard University Press, 2015)
The Anti-Abortion Movement and the Punishment Prerogative, in ROE V. DOBBS, ed. Lee Bollinger and Geoffrey Stone (Oxford University Press, 2023)
Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization on Abortion, in SCOTUS 2022: MAJOR DECISIONS AND DEVELOPMENTS OF THE U.S. SUPREME COURT, ed. Morgan Marietta (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2022)
Before Roe v. Wade, CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF SEXUALITY IN THE UNITED STATES eds. Nicholas Syrett and Jennifer Mannion (forthcoming, Cambridge University Press, 2023)
Introduction, in THE RESEARCH HANDBOOK ON INTERNATIONAL ABORTION LAW, editor Mary Ziegler (Elgar, 2023)
From Reproductive Rights to Reproductive Justice, in THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF FEMINISM LAW IN THE UNITED STATES, eds. Deborah Brake, Martha Chamallas, and Verna Williams (Oxford University Press, 2021)
Roe v. Wade and the Cultural Politics of Abortion, in THE COMPANION TO THE POLITICS OF AMERICAN HEALTH, eds. Sophia A. Jones and Martin Halliwell (University of Edinburgh Press, 2022)
Comment: Young v. UPS, in FEMINIST JUDGMENTS: REWRITTEN REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE, ed. Kim Mutcherson (Cambridge University Press, 2019)
Twentieth Century Legal History, in THE HISTORY OF THE TWENTIETH-CENTURY UNITED STATES (Routledge, 2018)
Roe v. Wade, in THE OXFORD RESEARCH ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN HISTORY (Oxford, 2017)
A Provider’s Right to Choose: A Legal History, in ABORTION IN TRANSNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE ed. Shannon Stetner et al. (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2017)
Comment: Harris v. McRae, in FEMINIST JUDGMENTS: FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE, eds. Linda Berger, Bridget Crawford, and Kathy Stanchi (Cambridge University Press, 2016)
ARTICLES
COMSTOCKERY: HOW GOVERNMENT CENSORSHIP GAVE BIRTH TO THE LAW OF SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM, AND MAY YET THREATEN IT, 134 Yale Law Journal (forthcoming 2025) (with Reva Siegel)
THE NEW LAW AND POLITICS OF PARENTAL RIGHTS, 123 Michigan Law Review (forthcoming 2025) (with Naomi Cahn and Maxine Eichner)
STATE CONSTITUTIONAL INCREMENTALISM, N.Y.U. Law Review (forthcoming 2025) (by invitation)
THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT HISTORY OF HISTORY AND TRADITION, 98 Southern California Law Review (forthcoming 2025) (with Dov Fox)
THE POST-DOBBS LANDSCAPE, American Journal of Public Health (forthcoming 2024)
ABORTION-EUGENIC DISCOURSE IN DOBBS: A SOCIAL MOVEMENT HISTORY, Journal of American Constitutional History 2:71 (2024)
THE HISTORY OF NEUTRALITY: DOBBS AND THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT POLITICS OF HISTORY AND NEUTRALITY, 133:161 Yale Law Forum (2023)
DOBBS AND MEANING OF RIGHTS, Modern American History (2023)
DISOBEDIENCE, MEDICINE, AND THE RULE OF LAW, 136 Harvard Law Review Forum (2023)
THE NEW THREAT TO ABORTION ACCESS IN THE UNITED STATES: THE COMSTOCK ACT, Journal of the American Medical Association (2023)
DOBBS AND THE JURISPRUDENCE OF EXCLUSION, Polity (2023)
THE END OF ROE V. WADE, American Journal of Bioethics 22 (2022): 16-21
UNESSENTIAL: ABORTION LAW BEFORE AND AFTER COVID-19, Cornell Law Review Online (forthcoming 2022)
UNSETTLED LAW: SOCIAL-MOVEMENT CONFLICT, STARE DECISIS, AND ROE V. WADE, Connecticut Law Review (Forthcoming 2022)
ABORTION AND THE LAW OF INNOCENCE, 2021 Illinois Law Review 865 (2021)
CONTESTING THE LEGACY OF THE NINETEENTH AMENDMENT: ABORTION AND EQUALITY FROM ROE V. WADE TO THE PRESENT, Colorado Law Review (2021)
BAD EFFECTS: THE MISUSE OF HISTORY IN BOX V. PLANNED PARENTHOOD, Cornell Law Review Online 105: 165 (2020)
MEN’S REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS, Pepperdine Law Review 47: 665 (2020)
EARNED RIGHTS, N.Y.U. J. L. & Soc. Change 40: 261 (2020)
TAMING UNWORKABILITY DOCTRINE: RETHINKING STARE DECISIS, Arizona Law Review 50: 1215 (2019)
WHAT IS RACE? Connecticut Law Review 50: 279 (2018)
BEYOND BALANCING: RETHINKING THE LAW OF EMBRYO DISPOSITION, American University Law Review 68: 515 (2018)
RETHINKING AN UNDUE BURDEN: WHOLE WOMAN’S HEALTH’S NEW APPROACH TO FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS, Tennessee Law Review 85: 461 (2018)
AFTER LIFE: GOVERNMENTAL INTERESTS AND THE NEW ANTIABORTION INCREMENTALISM, University of Miami Law Review 73: 78 (2018)
THE JURISPRUDENCE OF UNCERTAINTY: KNOWLEDGE, SCIENCE, AND ABORTION, Wisconsin Law Review 2018: 317 (2018)
WHAT IS SEXUAL ORIENTATION? Kentucky Law Review 106:61 (2018)
SOME KIND OF PUNISHMENT: PENALIZING WOMEN FOR ABORTION, William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal 26:735 (2018)
THE NEW NEGATIVE RIGHTS: ABORTION FUNDING AND CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AFTER WHOLE WOMAN’S HEALTH V. HELLERSTEDT, Nebraska Law Review 96: 577 (2018)
FACING THE FACTS: THE NEW ERA OF ABORTION CONFLICT AFTER WHOLE WOMAN’S HEALTH, Wake Forest Law Review 52:231 (2018)
LIBERTY AND THE POLITICS OF BALANCE: THE UNDUE-BURDEN TEST AFTER WHOLE WOMAN’S HEALTH V. HELLERSTEDT, Harvard Civil-Rights Civil-Liberties Review 52:421 (2017)
SUBSTANTIAL UNCERTAINTY: WHOLE WOMAN’S HEALTH V. HELLERSTEDT AND THE FUTURE OF ABORTION LAW, Supreme Court Review 2016: 77 (2017)
THE DISABILITY POLITICS OF ABORTION, Utah Law Review 2017: 587 (2017)
REPRODUCING RIGHTS: RETHINKING THE COSTS OF CONSTITUTIONAL DISCOURSE, Yale Journal of Law & Feminism 28: 103 (2016)
PERCEIVING ORIENTATION: DEFINING SEXUALITY AFTER OBGERGEFELL, Duke Journal of Gender Law &Policy 23: 223 (2016)
THE CONSERVATIVE MAGNA CARTA, North Carolina Law Review 94:1653 (2016)
CHOICE AT WORK: YOUNG V. UNITED PARCEL SERVICE, PREGNANCY DISCRIMINATION, AND REPRODUCTIVE LIBERTY, Denver University Law Review 93:219 (2015)
THE (NON-) RIGHT TO SEX, University of Miami Law Review 69:631 (2015)
IDENTITY CONTESTS: LITIGATION AND THE MEANING OF SOCIAL-MOVEMENT CAUSES, University of Colorado Law Review 86: 1274 (2015)
ORIGINALISM TALK: A LEGAL HISTORY, Brigham Young University Law Review 2014: 869 (2015)
BOOK REVIEW: ESTELLE B. FREEDMAN, REDEFINING RAPE: SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN THE ERA OF SUFFRAGE AND SEGREGATION, Law and History Review 33: 251 (2015)
ABORTION AND THE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT (NOT) TO PROCREATE, University of Richmond Law Review 48: 1263 (2014)
THE PRICE OF PRIVACY, 1973 TO THE PRESENT, Harvard Journal of Law and Gender 37: 285 (2014)
BEYOND BACKLASH: LEGAL HISTORY, POLARIZATION, AND ROE V. WADE, Washington and Lee Law Review 71: 969 (2014)
ROE’S RACE: THE SUPREME COURT, POPULATION CONTROL, AND REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE, Yale Journal of Law and Feminism 25:1 (lead article; 2013)
WOMEN’S RIGHTS ON THE RIGHT: THE HISTORY AND STAKES OF MODERN PRO-LIFE FEMINISM, Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law, and Justice 28:232 (2013)
GRASSROOTS ORIGINALISM: JUDICIAL ACTIVISM ARGUMENTS, THE ABORTION DEBATE, AND THE POLITICS OF JUDICIAL PHILOSOPHY, University of Louisville Law Review 51: 201(2013)
AN INCOMPLETE REVOLUTION: FEMINISTS AND THE LEGACY OF MARITAL-PROPERTY REFORM, Michigan Journal of Gender and Law 19: 259 (Lead Article; 2013)
SEXING HARRIS: THE LAW AND POLITICS OF THE MOVEMENT TO DEFUND PLANNED PARENTHOOD, Buffalo Law Review 60: 701 (2012)
BOOK REVIEW: MARC STEIN, SEXUAL INJUSTICE: SUPREME COURT DECISIONS FROM GRISWOLD TO ROE, Law and History Review 30:279 (2012)
THE TERMS OF THE DEBATE: LITIGATION, ARGUMENTATIVE STRATEGIES, AND COALITIONS IN THE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE STRUGGLE, Florida State University Law Review 39:467 (2012)
THE POSSIBILITY OF COMPROMISE: ANTIABORTION MODERATES AFTER ROE V. WADE, 1973-1980, Chicago-Kent Law Review 87:571 (2012)
THE BONDS THAT TIE: THE POLITICS OF MOTHERHOOD AND THE FUTURE OF ABORTION RIGHTS, Texas Journal of Women and the Law 21:47 (2011); selected for republication in WOMEN AND THE LAW (West, 2012)
EDELIN: THE REMAKING OF THE HEADLINE ABORTION TRIAL, Saint Louis University Law Journal 55: 1379 (2011)
FRAMING CHANGE: CAUSE LAWYERING, CONSTITUTIONAL DECISIONS, AND SOCIAL CHANGE, Marquette Law Review 94:263 (2010)
WAYS TO CHANGE: A REEVALUATION OF ARTICLE V CAMPAIGNS AND LEGISLATIVE CONSTITUTIONALISM, Brigham Young University Law Review 2009:969 (2009)
THE FRAMING OF A RIGHT TO CHOOSE: ROE V. WADE AND THE CHANGING DEBATE ON ABORTION LAW, Law and History Review 27:281 (2009)
REINVENTING EUGENICS: REPRODUCTIVE CHOICE AND LAW REFORM AFTER WORLD WAR II, Cardozo Journal of Law and Gender 14:319 (2008)
EUGENIC FEMINISM: MENTAL HYGIENE, THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT, AND THE CAMPAIGN FOR EUGENIC LEGAL REFORM, 1900-1935, Harvard Journal of Law and Gender 31:211 (2008)
SELECT OP-EDS AND POPULAR WRITINGS
THE CONSERVATIVES ARE NOT JUST ENDING ROE. THEY’RE DELIGHTING IN IT, Atlantic, May 3, 2022
THERE’S NO TELLING WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ROE V. WADE FALLS, Atlantic, April 25, 2022
WE MAY END UP LIVING IN THREE AMERICAS IF ROE V. WADE IS DECIMATED, New York Times, February 17, 2022
THE CONSERVATIVE JUSTICES DON’T SEEM TOO WORRIED ABOUT THE COURT’S LEGITIMACY, Atlantic, February 16, 2022
WHAT THE TEXAS ABORTION DECISION PORTENDS FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS, CNN, December 12, 2021
THE COURT INVITES AN ERA OF CONSTITUTIONAL CHAOS, Atlantic, December 10, 2021
THE END OF ROE IS COMING, AND IT IS COMING SOON, New York Times, December 2, 2021
GINSBURG ONCE DEFINED THE COURT’S VISION OF EQUALITY. NOW BARRETT DOES, Washington Post, December 3, 2021
SUPREME COURT SEEMS READY TO LAUNCH A LEGAL AND POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE, CNN, December 3, 2021
THE END OF ROE, Atlantic, December 2, 2021
WOMEN CAN’T AFFORD TO LOSE ROE V. WADE’S TIMELINE, Boston Globe, December 1, 2021
HERE’S WHAT SHOULD WORRY LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES ABOUT THE FATE OF ROE V. WADE, Politico, December 1, 2021
FOR THE JUSTICES, SB8 IS MORE ABOUT COURT POWER THAN ABORTION RIGHTS, Politico, November 3, 2021
WITH ROE V. WADE IN TROUBLE AGAIN, A DIFFERENT STRATEGY MAY BE REQUIRED, Boston Globe, November 3, 2021 (with Linda McClain)
THE FEDERAL SUIT AGAINST TEXAS’S ABORTION LAW MAY FAIL. IT’S STILL WORTHWHILE, Washington Post, September 11, 2021
THE JUSTICES ARE TELLING US WHAT THEY THINK ABOUT ROE V. WADE, Atlantic, September 3, 2021
THE SINISTER GENIUS OF THE TEXAS ABORTION LAW, CNN, September 3, 2021
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT IN TEXAS? Boston Globe, September 3, 2021 (with Rachel Rebouché)
THE DEVIOUSNESS OF TEXAS’S NEW ABORTION LAW, Atlantic, September 1, 2021
TEXAS HAS CLEARED A PATH TO THE END OF ROE V. WADE, New York Times, August 26, 2021
HOW THE ANTI-ABORTION USED THE PROGRESSIVE PLAYBOOK TO ATTACK ROE V. WADE, Politico, June 13, 2021(with Robert Tsai)
THE ABORTION FIGHT HAS NEVER BEEN ABOUT JUST ROE V. WADE, Atlantic, May 20, 2021
ABORTION IS LEGAL UNTIL A FETUS IS VIABLE. WILL THE SUPREME COURT CHANGE THAT? Washington Post, May 18, 2021
THIS COULD BE THE CASE THAT TAKES DOWN ROE V. WADE, CNN, May 18, 2021
ARKANSAS ABORTION BAN ISN’T A LAW. IT’S A MESSAGE, CNN, March 11, 2021
SOUTH CAROLINA SHOWS WHERE THE ANTIABORTION MOVEMENT IS HEADED, New York Times, March 3, 2021
HOW RAPHAEL WARNOCK CAME TO BE AN ABORTION-RIGHTS OUTLIER, Atlantic, December 29, 2020
ABORTION POLITICS POLARIZED BEFORE ROE. WHEN IT’S GONE, THE FIGHTING WON’T STOP, Washington Post, October 23, 2020
THE SECRET CODE OF THE AMY CONEY BARRETT HEARING, Atlantic, October 14, 2020
WITH A CONSERVATIVE COURT, ABORTION FOES COULD END ROE—AND GO EVEN FURTHER, Washington Post, September 23, 2020
A DANGEROUS MOMENT FOR THE COURT, Atlantic, September 21, 2020
HOW GINSBURG MADE THE LAW FAIRER FOR EVERY WOMAN, CNN, September 19, 2020
HOW THE SUPREME COURT COULD OVERTURN ROE—ALL WHILE CLAIMING TO RESPECT PRECEDENT, Washington Post, July 1, 2020
SOCIAL CONSERVATIVES ARE LEARNING ALL THE WRONG LESSONS FROM TRUMP, Atlantic, June 30, 2020
HOW NOT TO OUTLAW ABORTION, New York Times, June 29, 2020
AFTER SUPREME COURT DEFEAT, ABORTION FOES ARE AT A CROSSROADS, CNN, June 29, 2020
WHAT NORMA MCCORVEY BELIEVES MATTERS, Atlantic, May 31, 2020
THE NARROW DEFINITION OF “PRO-LIFE” IS FUELING DISREGARD FOR LIVES DURING COVID-19, Washington Post, May 1, 2020
THE HEARTBEAT BILLS WERE NEVER THE REAL THREAT TO ABORTION RIGHTS, New York Times, March 3, 2020
SUPREME COURT WILL CONSIDER WHETHER STATES CAN ‘PROTECT’ WOMEN FROM ABORTION. WHAT’S BEHIND THAT ARGUMENT?, Washington Post, March 3, 2020
DOES ABORTION HURT WOMEN? A SUBTLE NEW ATTACK ON ABORTION IS ARRIVING AT THE SUPREME COURT, Newsweek, March 2, 2020
THE END OF THE RAPE AND INCEST EXCEPTION, New York Times, Jun. 11, 2019
ABORTION OPPONENTS THINK THEY’RE WINNING. HAVE THEY SET THEMSELVES UP TO FAIL?, New York Times, May 15, 2019
WHAT CLARENCE THOMAS GETS WRONG ABOUT THE TIES BETWEEN ABORTION AND EUGENICS, Washington Post, May 30, 2019
THE TWO SIDES ARE GROWING FURTHER APART ON ABORTION. WE CAN THANK DONALD TRUMP, Washington Post, April 1, 2019
THE CULTURE WAR’S LONE SURVIVOR, Washington Post, January 28, 2019
HOW THE ABORTION WARS BECAME A FIGHT OVER SCIENCE, New York Times, January 22, 2019
THE INSIDIOUS UNRAVELING OF ABORTION RIGHTS IN AMERICA, Newsweek, December 16, 2018
BRETT KAVANUGH COULD SHATTER THE ALLIANCE BETWEEN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND THE ANTIABORTION MOVEMENT, Washington Post, September 4, 2018
HOW ROE IS LIKELY TO GO: NOT WITH A BANG, BUT A WHIMPER, New York Daily News, July 10, 2018
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE OF ABORTION RIGHTS LOOK LIKE? Atlantic, July 2, 2018
THE SUPREME COURT’S BIG ABORTION HYPOCRISY, Washington Post, June 27, 2018
THE MOVEMENT THAT COULD RESHAPE THE ABORTION FIGHT, Washington Post, March 20, 2018
ROE V. WADE WAS ABOUT MORE THAN ABORTION, New York Times, January 21, 2018
WHEN ROE V. WADE MEANT MORE THAN JUST ABORTION RIGHTS, Washington Post, Jan. 22, 2018
OHIO’S NEW ABORTION LAW IS AN ASSAULT ON ROE. HERE’S WHY IT WON’T WORK, Washington Post, December 9, 2016
WHERE THE PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT GOES NEXT, New York Times, July 2, 2016
THE SUPREME COURT’S TEXAS ABORTION RULING REIGNITES A BATTLE ABOUT THE FACTS, Washington Post, June 28, 2016
EVERYONE AGREES THAT WOMEN WHO HAVE ABORTIONS SHOULD NOT BE PUNISHED. OR DO THEY?, Washington Post, April 1, 2016