Dr. Cody Clemens ’13, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies, recently presented research at the 19th annual International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (ICQI) conference at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
The research was conducted during Clemens’ trip to an abortion clinic during the summer of 2021.
“During this trip, I took undergraduate students who were minoring in Health Communication with me to understand what it is like to conduct field research,” Clemens said. “Samantha Rubadue ’22 and Felipe Cruz ’22 assisted me by helping conduct interviews with clinic workers and volunteers, taking field notes, and observing the actions of protestors.”
The title of the paper was “Birthing Persons Matter: An Autoethnography Reflecting on My Time at an Abortion Clinic.”
“The conversations surrounding abortion in the United States have been contested for quite some time,” Clemens said. “As a health communication scholar, I wanted to witness first-hand, and expose, the impact protestors had on the health and well-being of abortion clinic workers and volunteers.”