Responsible Care in a Post-Roe World: The Impacts and Ethical Responsibilities of Mental Health Professionals

In June 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark piece of legislation which had previously protected the rights of Americans to seek abortions. Now, individual states are free to outright ban or severely limit Americans’ rights to a procedure that had been legal since 1973. This ruling threw the country into a tailspin and put mental health professionals in the challenging position of wondering how they can best support clients impacted by the ruling while also abiding by pertinent laws and ethical codes.
This timely book will help mental health professionals navigate their roles and responsibilities in a highly politically charged situation. Readers will understand the various ways the ruling may impact the clients with whom they work, as considerable research has found that people forced to carry unwanted pregnancies experience adverse financial, social, physical, and mental health effects. The negative effects are more severe for people in marginalized groups, such as persons living in poverty, people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and those in medically underserved areas.
This book addresses timely issues facing providers today. Should mental health professionals set aside their personal thoughts and feelings about abortion to best serve their clients, and is this even possible? What do the ethical codes that mental health professionals abide by suggest for traversing this situation? This engaging text encourages deep personal reflection while broadening professionals’ understanding of the mental health effects of the ruling and providing insight into its ethical and social justice implications.

Jennifer Toof, LPC, NCC, is the owner/founder of Trauma Informed Counseling & Consulting,
through which she provides trauma-informed mental health counseling services to children and
adults and trauma/mental health consulting services to organizations. She earned her PhD in
International Psychology from The Chicago School with a focus on trauma services. She has
presented on a wide array of subjects at national and international professional conferences, most
recently presenting on the topic of this book at the 2023 American Psychological Association
conference in Washington, DC. She has been published in peer-reviewed journals on topics such
as childhood trauma, integrated family therapy, and rehabilitative yoga and mindfulness for the
incarcerated population.

As a passionate advocate for social justice causes and the rights, dignity, and well-being of all,
Jennifer sees clear parallels between counseling and advocacy work. In both her personal and
professional work, Jennifer advocates for the w