Liliana Kowalski

Reimagininghowpolicyservespeople.

Working at the intersection of legislative process and human dignity — I research how policy is made, borrowed, and deployed, and why that matters.

My Work →About Me →Resources →

My Work

All research →
01

Networks of Influence: Legislative Text Diffusion in State Abortion Policy After Dobbs

This thesis examines how abortion-related legislation diffused across U.S. states in the first full legislative year after Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022). Drawing on a corpus of 188 enacted bills across 46 states, it uses compu- tational text analysis—TF–IDF cosine similarity computed across 104,445 unique n-grams—together with bill-level and dyadic regression to identify the structural pre- dictors of textual convergence.

02

Time as a Racialized Barrier: How Mandatory Waiting Periods Function as Gatekeeping Mechanisms in Abortion Access

An analysis of mandatory waiting period requirements and their documented effects on abortion access, procedure delays, and health outcomes — with focus on the compounded burdens placed on patients in states with limited provider availability.

How I Work

01

Define the Question

What does this policy actually do — to whom, and why?

02

Follow the Evidence

Text, data, and the people inside the system.

03

Surface the Pattern

Where does power move, and what does it leave behind?

04

Translate for Impact

Findings that reach the people who can act on them.

I believe…

Read my views →

Accessible law is a form of equity.

Rights that vary by state aren't rights — they're privileges.

“The words in laws determine who gets protected.”

“Policy change starts in networks, not legislatures.”

“Proximity to power is not proximity to truth.”

“Durable reform requires organizing and drafting to move together.”

Get Connected

Let’s work
together.