Carver Science Club: Equity, Intersectionality, and Health

Join 2022 Syracuse University Reporting Fellow Natalia Perez-Gonzalez at Huston-Tillotson University in Texas for an installment of the seminar series "Carver Science Club." The seminar series spotlights the intersections between science and society.

For the past two years, the series theme has been health equity. Inspired by George Washington Carver's visit to the university, where he delivered remarks and a poem, "Carver Science Club" invited Perez-Gonzalez on account of her Pulitzer Center-supported reporting project, Beyond the Green Wave: Dominican Afro-Feminists Fight for Reproductive Freedom.

The Dominican Republic's mortality rate is among the highest in Latin America at 8% from failed abortions. In her reporting, Perez-Gonzalez maps the country's mainstream feminist movement, led by Las Tres Casuales: advocates of narrow, "realistic" legalization of abortion in cases of rape, incest, or when a birth-giver's life is at risk; and activists who champion broad decriminalization of abortion, sex education, and rural inclusion. All the while, Las Tres Casuales faces existential threats from patriarchal legislators, an entrenched racial caste system, and hostile cultural norms.

Perez-Gonzalez's article "In the Dominican Republic, the Fight for Abortion Rights is a Fight Against Anti-Blackness" was published on February 23, 2023, in The Nation.

At Huston-Tillotson, Perez-Gonzalez will present her reporting and participate in a moderated panel discussion and audience Q&A.