Rachael Johnstone is a Postdoctoral Fellow working with Dr. Bessma Momani on issues of gender and public policy. Her research explores intersections of politics, public policy, law, and healthcare as they relate to gendered bodies. To date, her research has focused predominately on the regulation of abortion politics in Canada in the context of the federal policy vacuum left in the wake of R. v. Morgentaler (1988), the Supreme Court case that decriminalized abortion in Canada. This work includes projects on Canadian public policy, Charter jurisprudence, and the role of federalism in shaping the regulation of women’s bodies and their relationship to the state.

Prior to joining the Balsillie School, Rachael was an Assistant Professor at the Bader International Study Centre (Queen’s University, Canada) in the United Kingdom.

Postdoctoral Fellow
Office: BSIA 336
(226) 772-3149
[email protected]

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Johnstone, Rachael. 2018. “Canadian Abortion Policy.” In Policy Change, Courts, and the Constitution, edited by Emmett Macfarlane. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Johnstone, Rachael. 2017. After Morgentaler: The Politics of Abortion in Canada. Vancouver: UBC Press
Johnstone, Rachael. 2017. “Between a Woman and Her Doctor?: The Medicalization of Abortion Politics in Canada.” In Abortion: History, Politics, and Reproductive Justice after Morgentaler, edited by Shannon Stettner, Kristin Burnett, and Travis Hay. Vancouver: UBC Press.
Johnstone, Rachael, and Emmett Macfarlane. 2015. “Public Policy, Rights and Abortion Access in Canada.” International Journal of Canadian Studies 51: 97-120

Rachael Johnstone

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Global Insights: Leadership and Legitimacy in Post-pandemic Latin America

Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas: A New Era of Indigenous-led Conservation in Canada and Beyond

Rachael Johnstone

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Related Research Interests