“It's a low-key thing of eugenics”: Disability reproductive injustice in barriers to cervical cancer screening during the COVID-19 pandemic

Meredith Evans, Kyara J. Liu, Alexandra Rego, Nkem Ogbonna, Sidrah K. Zafar and Hilary K. Brown

Social Science & Medicine, 2025, vol. 369, issue C

Abstract: Cervical cancer screening (CCS) is a critical component of preventative sexual and reproductive healthcare, yet there are disparities in access to CCS for people with disabilities. This qualitative community-engaged study uses the disability reproductive justice framework to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted people with disabilities' experiences with CCS in Canada. From May 2022 to March 2023, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 40 women and gender-diverse people with physical, sensory, cognitive, and/or mental health disabilities. Results from a thematic analysis indicate that barriers to CCS before and during the COVID-19 pandemic were characterized by inaccessibility, ableism and intersecting forms of oppression, provider distrust, the deprioritization of people with disabilities' sexual and reproductive healthcare, and the disregard for disabled people's autonomy. Grounded in these findings, this article situates preventative sexual and reproductive healthcare like CCS as a disability reproductive justice concern. Amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic, barriers to CCS enacted disability reproductive injustice through everyday ableism and micro-eugenics that devalued people with disabilities. Barriers to CCS must be addressed in collaboration with disability communities. Guided by participant insights, recommendations include making preventative sexual and reproductive health services like CCS more accessible and available to people with disabilities, especially in the aftermath of public health emergencies that disproportionately impact disability communities.

Keywords: Cancer screening; Cervical cancer; COVID-19; Disability; Intersectionality; Sexual and reproductive health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.117807

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