Feminist and LGBTQ+ Studies

Abstract

Authoritarian movements rarely begin with mass arrests or overt coups. They start by reshaping culture and law around who controls the body. In the United States, attacks on abortion and trans rights have become the “first dominos” in this process. These issues were not chosen at random: both are deeply personal, both can be framed in moral and religious terms, and both allow governments to expand control over private life while gaining political capital. They have also forged unlikely alliances, bringing together religious conservatives, populist nationalists, and corporate actors in pursuit of power.

This talk argues that the rollback of reproductive and trans rights in the U.S. is not only a civil rights crisis but also a key strategy in the rise of authoritarian power. By targeting healthcare and identity, political leaders create polarizing wedge issues, erode trust in medical institutions, and normalize the idea that fundamental rights are conditional.

I will examine three mechanics of this strategy: pressuring institutions to “obey in advance,” politicizing medicine through ideological litmus tests, and weaponizing documentation and benefits as tools of exclusion. These are not end goals but proving grounds for methods that can then be applied more broadly to speech, to migration, to citizenship itself.

Finally, I will offer lessons for an international audience: how to recognize when bodily autonomy is being used as an authoritarian wedge, how to resist institutional intimidation, and how to build coalitions that link reproductive and trans justice together. The U.S. experience is a cautionary tale, but also a guide: resistance is possible, and action is needed before the dominoes fall

Biography

Samantha Boucher is the Founder and Executive Director of Trans Liberty PAC, the first U.S. political action organization dedicated solely to defending the civil rights of transgender Americans. She made history as the first openly transgender federal (U.S. House & U.S. Senate) campaign manager in the United States and has since trained campaigns nationwide and guest-lectured at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics. With a background in political organizing and technology, her current focus is building cross-movement coalitions to resist authoritarianism, defend vulnerable communities, and engage faith-based and rural audiences in support of trans and reproductive justice