#  Article & Video: Salvadoran Women Jailed for Abortion Warn of Ban, Viterna anticipates post-Roe future in the US, 06/11/2022. 

 





 

 “[Salvadoran Women Jailed for Abortion Warn of US Total Ban](https://apnews.com/article/abortion-politics-health-caribbean-religion-8dcebe19ea1d3f20ef288463f4392da4),” by Luis Andres Henao and Jessie Wardarski, *Associated Press,* 06/11/2022, background and quotes.

> Jocelyn Viterna, a Harvard University sociologist, has reviewed court documents from dozens of cases in which Salvadoran women were convicted of pregnancy-related homicide.
> 
> ##  **“If this plays out the way it does in El Salvador, in the United States women who have naturally occurring miscarriages may much more frequently be under suspicion for abortion,” Viterna said. “We may be asking, ‘Did they take a pill? Did they drink too much when they shouldn’t? What leads you to lose that child?’”**



 

##  Viterna in the News 

 



  [### JOCELYN VITERNA

 ](/jocelyn-viterna) Jocelyn Viterna is Professor of Sociology at Harvard University. Her current research examines how the passage of anti-abortion legislation in El Salvador transformed the Salvadoran legal, judicial, and medical systems, with powerful and negative... 

 

 

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   [### SOCIOL 1000: Introduction to Sociology

 ](/sociol-1000-introduction-sociology) Spring 2025 This course introduces students to the complicated, conflictual, and often contradictory theoretical origins of sociology as a discipline. We begin by reading the standard sociological “canon”—Marx, Weber, and Durkheim—and interrogating why... 

 

 

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   [### SOCIOL 3316: Politics and Social Change

 ](/sociol-3316-politics-and-social-change) Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 The Politics and Social Change Workshop promotes the development of a community of scholars interested in how power relations shape social patterns in societies around the world. We define ‘politics’ broadly to include everything... 

 

 

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##  **JOCELYN VITERNA** 

###  Professor of Sociology, Chair of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Harvard University



 

  ![Viterna headshot 2023](/sites/g/files/omnuum1826/files/viterna/files/head_shot_jan_2023_0.jpeg)

 



 

  

 

 

 

 

##  Contact Prof. Viterna 

 [jviterna@wjh.harvard.edu](mailto:///jviterna@wjh.harvard.edu)

 [Office Hours Sign-up](https://calendly.com/viternastudents/officehours)

 [Department of Sociology](http://sociology.fas.harvard.edu/)  
33 Kirkland Street  
William James Hall 480  
Cambridge, MA 02138

 Faculty Assistant:  
[Sandra Llewellyn](https://sociology.fas.harvard.edu/people/sandra-llewellyn)