Aubrey Jackson Soller, University of Maryland Baltimore County

Presentation Title: Excluded but Not Exempt: Women’s Hidden Punishment in Abortion Legislation

About the Presentation

This research explores how legal definitions of personhood inform understandings of whom the state punishes. Using a discourse analysis of abortion legislation proposed in Texas and Maryland, I reveal the state’s potential to control women’s bodies even when “women” are absent or peripheral in the bill texts. This work invites scholars to contemplate how punishment operates, especially as states adopt innovative ways to regulate behavior and enforce compliance.

About the Speaker

Aubrey Jackson Soller, PhD is Associate Director of the Center for Social Science Scholarship and Associate Professor in Sociology, Anthropology, and Public Health at UMBC, with an affiliate appointment in Gender, Women’s, + Sexuality Studies. Her research examines how economic, political, and gender-stratified contexts shape wellbeing, especially among women. She has published widely on topics including neighborhood effects, gender and health, crime, and law and society, with recent work exploring the gendered ecology of violent victimization and mental health.

Seminar Format

Location IN PERSON: 2208 LeFrak Hall. We are requesting advanced registration so that we can track capacity.  Please use this link to RSVP for in-person attendance.

Location ONLINE VIA ZOOM: Zoom registration link.  Upon registration, you will receive an automatically generated email with the direct link for the seminar

If accommodations are needed, please send request to meeting organizer (mprc-support@umd.edu) at least 72 hours prior to the event, if possible, to allow time to discuss and implement alternatives.

COVID-19 Information

MPRC public events for Fall 2025 will be a mix of in person and online via Zoom.  For in person events, all event attendees must follow current protocols