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Access to Reproductive Rights in the USA

Doctoral Training Grant Funding Information

This funding model includes a 36 month fully funded PhD Studentship, set in-line with the Research Council values. For 2025/6, this will be £20,780 per year. The tax-free stipend will be paid monthly. This PhD Studentship also includes a Full-Time Home Fee Scholarship for up to 3 years. The funding is subject to your continued registration on the research degree, making satisfactory progression within your PhD, as well as attendance on and successful completion of the Postgraduate Certificate in Research Practice. 

All applicants will receive the same stipend irrespective of fee status.

Application Closing Date:
Midday (UK Time) on Wednesday 16th April 2025 for a start date of the 1st September 2025.

How to Apply

To apply, please follow the below steps:

  1. Complete the BCU Online Application Form here: Law PhDs.
  2. Complete the Doctoral Studentship Proposal Form in full, ensuring that you quote the project ID. You will be required to upload your proposal in place of a personal statement on the BCU online application form.
  3. Upload two references to your online application form (at least one of which must be an academic reference).
  4. Upload your qualification(s) for entry onto the research degree programme. This will be Bachelor/Master’s certificate(s) and transcript(s).
  5. International applicants must also provide a valid English language qualification. Please see the list of English language qualifications accepted here. Please check the individual research degree course page for the required scores.

Frequently Asked Questions

To help support you to complete your application, please consult the frequently asked questions below:

If your question is not answered above and you need any further information, please use the contact details below: 

-   For enquiries about the project content, please contact: anne.oakes@bcu.ac.uk

-   For enquiries about the application procedure, please contact: research.admissions@bcu.ac.uk

Project Title: Access to Reproductive Rights in the USA 

Project lead: Dr Anne Richardson Oakes 

Project ID: 44061186

Project description:

Access to abortion services is an important aspect of the women’s struggle for rights of bodily autonomy and control over their own fertility but researchers argue that the need to access these services can be reduced by the provision of comprehensive sex education which can assist young people to safely engage in sex and thereby reduce the rate of unwanted pregnancies. This proposal examines limitations on the rights of women to reproductive freedom in the United  States in the context of state restrictions on the availability of abortion services and on the provision of comprehensive sex education.  It will focus particularly on states such as Arizona which have recently voted to liberalise access to abortion services but where the provision of sex education has been and continues to be a matter of extreme political contention. It will investigate the extent to which legislative interventions have been challenged in state and federal courts  and will consider the use of a case study or studies as an investigative method of inquiry. 

The methodology is doctrinal and interpretive. Data on changes to abortion laws and sex education provisions will be cross-referenced to find correlations. Any correlations will contribute to knowledge concerning the protection of women’s reproductive rights in the US. They will also shed light on the role of political partisanship and activist organisations in shaping social policy formation in a context of politically polarized cultural contestations. 

Anticipated findings and contribution to knowledge:

State legislation on both abortion and sex education is currently trackable via various online tracker sites. However, these are not reliably comprehensive or up to date and the tracker sites do not give the detail of the legislative measure in question.  There is no systematic research will correlates the regulation of sex education with  the regulation of abortion services. There is no comprehensive tracker of litigation and state judicial responses on these issues. 

This research will remedy these gaps and make a significant contribution to knowledge concerning women’s rights to reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy. Any correlations will contribute to knowledge concerning the protection of women’s reproductive rights in the US. They will also shed light on the role of political partisanship and activist organisations in shaping social policy formation in a context of politically polarized cultural contestations. 

Person Specification:

The PGR should have a good Honours degree and an interest in constitutional theory. A masters degree is preferred. A basic knowledge of US governmental and legal structures is welcome but not necessary as training will be provided  

International applicants must also provide a valid English language qualification, such as International English Language Test System (IELTS) or equivalent with an overall score of 6.5 with no band below 6.0.