S.J. Pearce is an asso­ciate pro­fes­sor in the Depart­ment of Span­ish and Por­tuguese at New York Uni­ver­si­ty. She research­es and teach­es the cul­tur­al his­to­ry of the Ara­bic-speak­ing Jews of medieval Spain. This essay is excerpt­ed from a longer piece on the author’s expe­ri­ence as a high-risk obstet­ric patient after the over­turn of Roe v. Wade.