“Glitching” the “Regime-made Disaster”: How Self-Managed Abortion Enacts Collective Resistance to the U.S. Abortion Infrastructure.

This thesis explores how reproductive freedom is constrained and contested in the United States (U.S.), drawing on a relational and materialist conception of autonomy which challenges dominant notions of "choice". Through feminist and critical theoretical frameworks, including the “Regime-made Disaster” (Azoulay) and “Glitch Feminism” (Russell), the thesis frames self-managed abortion as both a survival strategy and a political act of resistance. Analysing 1296 evaluations submitted to Aid Access, an online abortion provider in the U.S., the work reveals how abortion is situated at the intersection of race, class, gender, and state power. I explore, through the lens of the “glitch”, how Aid Access emerges not just as a service, but as a form of infrastructural disobedience, disrupting a “Regime-made Disaster” that aims to limit reproductive autonomy. The thesis emphasizes the importance of centring lived experiences and informal care networks, arguing for a more expansive understanding of reproductive freedom as a collective and structural issue.