Policy Diffusion After Dobbs

When Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, it didn't just change the legal landscape — it triggered a coordinated legislative response across all 50 states. Within a year, 188 abortion-related bills had been introduced in state legislatures, and the patterns in their language tell a striking story.

My thesis examines these bills using computational text analysis, mapping where legislative language comes from and how it spreads. The findings complicate a common assumption: that state legislatures independently craft their own policy responses. In reality, template diffusion through advocacy networks is the norm, not the exception.

What this means for policy design is significant. If we want to understand why a law takes the shape it does — who it protects, who it excludes, what it leaves ambiguous — we have to ask not just who voted for it, but who wrote the first draft.