Khiara M. Bridges is a professor of law at UC Berkeley School of Law. She has written many articles concerning race, class, reproductive rights, and the intersection of the three. Her scholarship has appeared in the Harvard Law Review, Stanford Law Review, the Columbia Law Review, the California Law Review, the NYU Law Review, and the Virginia Law Review, among others. She is also the author of three books: Reproducing Race: An Ethnography of Pregnancy as a Site of Racialization (2011), The Poverty of Privacy Rights (2017), and Critical Race Theory: A Primer (2019). She is a coeditor of a reproductive justice book series that is published under the imprint of the University of California Press.
She graduated as valedictorian from Spelman College, receiving her degree in three years. She received her J.D. from Columbia Law School and her Ph.D., with distinction, from Columbia University’s Department of Anthropology. While in law school, she was a teaching assistant for the former dean, David Leebron (Torts), as well as for the late E. Allan Farnsworth (Contracts). She was a member of the Columbia Law Review and a Kent Scholar. She speaks fluent Spanish and basic Arabic, and she is a classically trained ballet dancer.
Education
B.A., summa cum laude, Spelman College
J.D., Columbia Law School
Ph.D., with distinction, Columbia University
Khiara M Bridges is not teaching any Law courses in Spring 2026.
‘Everyone who is vulnerable in some way’ will bear the brunt if court overturns Roe, specialists say
Professor Khiara M. Bridges, one of the authors of an amicus brief in the Dobbs case, says the burden of restricted abortion access will fall heaviest on Black women and expects, if abortion is criminalized and states begin prosecuting people who terminate pregnancies, poor people of color will be arrested and convicted at higher rates than their white counterparts
Far-Reaching Implications of Roe v. Wade’s Demise w/ Khiara Bridges, Michelle Oberman
Professor Khiara M. Bridges appears on the Majority Report to discuss the bombshell leaked US Supreme Court brief from Justice Alito that would overturn Roe V. Wade
Where Roe went wrong: A sweeping new abortion right built on a shaky legal foundation
Professor Khiara M. Bridges says the anti-abortion movement has organized around Roe v Wade, but very few people have read it
A ‘shattering blow’: East Bay leaders react to Supreme Court Roe v. Wade draft
Oaklandside notes that Professor Khiara M. Bridges sounded the alarm in March over the impending loss of abortion protections, and how they would impact vulnerable people
Supreme Court teed up for major decisions over next two months
Professor Khiara M. Bridges says a decision against abortion rights would come down hardest on people who do not have the ability or means to travel where an abortion would be available and the only source of optimism may be in the likelihood that the Supreme Court’s decision will sort of spur activism
No, this California bill wouldn’t allow mothers to kill their children after they’re born
Professor Khiara Bridges debunks Facebook posts claiming California lawmakers proposed a bill that would allow mothers to kill their babies up to 7 days after birth
The Nomination Black Women Have Been Waiting For
Professor Khiara M. Bridges explains the personal impact of the implication, when President Biden announced his intention to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court, that there was no one qualified
Berkeley Voices: ‘The past will be present when Roe falls’
Professor Khiara M. Bridges appears on the Berkeley Voices podcast to discuss the history of reproductive rights in the U.S., what’s at stake when Roe v. Wade is overturned and why we should expand our fight for reproductive justice
What Roe v. Wade Means for All of Us
Professor Khiara M. Bridges appears on the GOOP podcast in which she explains that the Supreme Court could potentially overturn Roe v. Wade and what this decision could mean for women’s constitutional rights
Column: Are Abortion Rights Just for Privileged Careerists?
Professor Khiara M. Bridges shoots down the right’s attempts to portray abortion as a “career choice” explains what is really at stake for women
Podcast: Let’s Talk About Texts, Cheney
Professor Khiara M. Bridges appears on the BBC’s Americast podcast to discuss Governor Newsom’s plan to use Texas SB8’s framework for gun control and why she believes it is more than just a PR stunt
Column: Newsom stares down Texas on abortion and guns, winning political points in the process
Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and Professor Khiara M. Bridges discuss Texas’ SB8 and Governor Newsom’s plan to use it as a framework to address gun violence
Governor Newsom Invokes Texas Abortion Law to Take on Guns in California
Professor Khiara M. Bridges appears on KQED’s Forum to discuss whether Governor Newsom’s plan to use Texas’ SB8 as a framework to address gun violence is legally viable and politically astute
There’s one major difference between Texas’ abortion law and Newsom’s gun proposal
Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and Professor Khiara M. Bridges explain the differences between Texas’ SB8 and Governor Newsom’s plan to use it as a framework to address gun violence
Newsom seizes on Texas abortion law tactics to go after assault rifles and ghost guns
Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and Professor Khiara M. Bridges discuss the Supreme Court’s decision on Texas’ abortion law and say it subverts the constitutional guarantee that all citizens have the same rights, no matter where they live
In response to Texas abortion ban, Newsom calls for similar restrictions on assault weapons
Professor Khiara M. Bridges says Governor Newsom’s pledge to pass a law restricting assault weapons through private litigation is exactly the kind of legal gambit that constitutional scholars have predicted since the Supreme Court majority declined to block the Texas abortion law
Republicans See Parents’ Frustration With Schools as Path to Retake Congress
Professor Khiara M. Bridges says that critical race theory conflated ideas like diversity, equity and inclusion efforts or teacher training meant to raise awareness of why students might face different circumstances
Podcast: Honoring the Emanuel Nine, What We Can Do about Information Disorder, and Critical Race Theory as a Political Football
Professor Khiara M. Bridges appears on the Our Body Politic podcast to examine the way politicians use Critical Race Theory to win elections
House Democrats, Republicans clash over Texas abortion law
Professor Khiara M. Bridges says essentially, abortion restrictions do not have race-neutral effects
You Can Still Say ‘Woman’ But you shouldn’t stop there.
Professor Khiara M. Bridges say if we win access for trans people of color who are in rural areas, who are poor — then everyone else wins











