Reproductive Health Policy and Justice
Professor Kay has significant policy experience in reproductive health and rights that includes working for the ACLU on reproductive and women’s rights in the DC Legislative Office and the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund (now called Legal Momentum, in New York) on sexual harassment, sexual assault, and abortion rights. At the ACLU she advised affiliates on how to defeat anti-abortion legislation in state legislatures. She also wrote policy papers to educate affiliates and partners on innumerable reproductive justice issues, from parental consent/notification to Catholic hospitals and their policies on reproductive health. At NOW Legal Defense she conducted research for a RICO case against violent anti-abortion organizations that were organizing across state lines to assassinate physicians and health care workers. She also worked with attorneys who helped draft and pass the Violence Against Women Act with Joe Biden’s office and the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act in 1994. She also worked on efforts to extend criminal and civil statutes of limitations for child sexual abuse.
Research and Scholarship:
Beisel, Nicola and Tamara Kay. 2004. “Abortion, Race, and Gender in Nineteenth-Century America.” American Sociological Review. 69(4): 498-518.
Fernández Anderson, Cora, Anna Calasanti, and Tamara Kay. 2025. "Diffusing Strategies North-South and South-North: Circular Diffusion and the Case of Abortion Rights Movements in the U.S. and Latin America" Socius. (11)1-22.
Calasanti, Anna, Cora Fernández Anderson and Tamara Kay. 2024. "Research Ethics and Methods in Shifting Policy Climates: The Case of Abortion Rights in the United States and Latin America." Politics & Gender. 20(4):1007-1014.
In her capacity as Editor-in-Chief of Studies in Comparative International Development, a journal housed at Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs, Professor Kay explained the importance of expanding and elevating the field of reproductive health (with Managing Editor Dr. Anna Calasanti).
Media Contributions:
Editorial. “Medical Fraud at Crisis Pregnancy Centers Should Make us Rethink Policy.” Tamara Kay, Anna Calasanti, and Susan Ostermann. Chicago Tribune. March 24, 2024.
Tamara Kay quoted on abortion rights in Paul Blumenthal, “The Once-Dead Law At The Center Of The Next Abortion Battle, And The Anxiety That Drove It.” HuffPost. June 24, 2023.
Editorial. “Banning Abortion Pill Mifepristone would be a Terrible Policy Choice and Violate Human Rights.” Anna Calasanti, Tamara Kay and Susan L. Ostermann. Chicago Tribune. March 6, 2023.
Editorial. "Lies About Abortion Have Dictated Health Policy.” Tamara Kay and Susan L. Ostermann. Chicago Tribune. December 5, 2022.
Tamara Kay quoted in Meg Kelleher, “Understanding the Dobbs Decision.” Scholastic. October 5, 2022.
Interview. “Why We Need to Expand and Elevate The Field of Reproductive Health.” Tamara Kay and Anna Calasanti. The Source. Springer Nature. September 23, 2022.
Editorial. “Want to Lower Abortion Rates? Look to Canada’s Example.” Susan L. Ostermann and Tamara Kay. The Daily Beast. August 27, 2022.
Editorial. “Abortion Ban would Undermine Talent Recruitment.” Tamara Kay and Susan L. Ostermann. Indianapolis Business Journal. August 5, 2022.
Editorial. “Indiana Lawmakers should've Learned from RFRA; Don't Repeat those Mistakes." Tamara Kay and Susan L. Ostermann. The Indianapolis Star. July 28, 2022.
Tamara Kay abortion research and anti-racism work quoted in Carley Lanich, “A Notre Dame Professor Cited in the Buffalo Shooter's Writing was given Emeritus Status.” South Bend Tribune. July 28, 2022.
Editorial. “Abortion, Racism, and Guns: How White Supremacy Unites the Right.” Tamara Kay and Susan L. Ostermann. Salon. July 19, 2022.
Editorial. “How Do We Regain Abortion Rights? Take a Page Out of MADD's Playbook.” Tamara Kay and Susan L. Ostermann. Chicago Tribune. July 7, 2022.
Editorial. “Access to Health Care Means Access to Abortion: How the U.K. and U.S. Compare.” Tamara Kay and Susan L. Ostermann. Everyday Society, The British Sociological Association. May 24, 2022.
Tamara Kay research on abortion quoted in Jasmine Aguilera and Abigail Abrams, "What the Buffalo Tragedy Has to Do With the Effort to Overturn Roe" Time. May 21, 2022.
Editorial. “Pregnancy is Risky: Losing Access to Abortion Puts Women’s Lives at Stake.” Tamara Kay, Susan L. Ostermann and Tricia C. Bruce. Los Angeles Times. May 6, 2022.
Editorial. “Forced Pregnancy and Childbirth are Violence Against Women — And Also Terrible Health Policy.” Tamara Kay and Susan L. Ostermann. Salon. May 4, 2022.
Tamara Kay research on abortion quoted in Alex Di Branco, "The Long History of the Anti-Abortion Movement's Links to White Supremacists." The Nation. February 3, 2020.
Tamara Kay research on abortion quoted in Melissa Gira Grant, ""Female Monthly Pills" and the Coded Language of Abortion Before Roe." The New Republic. January 22, 2020.
Tamara Kay research on abortion quoted in JR Thorpe, "Why Is America So Obsessed With Abortion?" Bustle. June 30, 2017.
Tamara Kay research on abortion quoted in Livia Gerson, "The History of Outlawing Abortion in America." JSTOR Daily. March 10, 2017.