Catherine Conlon

Affiliation(s):
Trinity College Dublin

Department:
Social Work and Social Policy

Research interests:
Reproduction Policy; Abortion Regulation; Abortion Care Experience; Reproductive Citizenship; Reproductive Justice

ORCID Profile
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6744-7382

Biography

Dr Catherine Conlon Catherine is Associate Professor at the School of Social Work and Social Policy, Trinity College Dublin. Her research focuses on reproduction policy and the social politics of reproduction, exploring their effects on subjectivity, positionality, intersectional justice and the gendered ordering of citizenship, roles and relations.  Her current research is building a sustainable evidence base of GP activity data for abortion care provision ADAPT in patnership with START group, a peer support network of GPs, doctors and allied health professionals providing abortion care.  Her recent research was a HEA North-South Research Project Award ReproCit researching empirical formations of reproductive citizenship, in partnership with Dr Fiona Bloomer, Ulster University.  Dr Conlon was PI and author of UnPAC, the service user research strand informing the statutory review of the Health (Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 reflecting her strong track record in Applied Policy Research.   

Publications

Conlon, C., Antosik-Parsons, K., & Butler, É. (2025). Experiences of the Irish model of community medical abortion: adherence to self-managed, people-centred abortion care. Irish Political Studies, 40(1), 6–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/07907184.2024.2369335

Conlon C. Variants of abortion exceptionalism: mapping adherence to healthcare standards in high- income countries. In: Zagel H, ed. Reproduction policy in the twenty- first century. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2024.

Conlon C, Antonsik-Parsons, et al. (2022) Unplanned Pregnancy and Abortion Care (UnPAC) Study. Available at: http://www.tara.tcd.ie/handle/2262/101813.

Antosik-Parsons, K., Conlon, C., & Duffy, D. N. (2025). After the review: What next for Irish abortion services? Introduction to the special issue. Irish Journal of Sociology, 33(1-2), 3-8. https://doi.org/10.1177/07916035251360088

Favier, M., & Conlon, C. (2025). Abortion provision in Ireland: Implementation and advocacy, an Irish and international perspective from practice. Irish Journal of Sociology, 33(1-2), 113-128. https://doi.org/10.1177/07916035251345356