A Spark of Light

Reproductive rights are a central issue in A Spark of Light, and the characters grapple with questions of morality and access. Abortion access—and reproductive rights more broadly—continues to be an important and much-debated issue in the United States. The US Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973 in the landmark case Roe v. Wade, which argued that abortion was protected under the right to privacy. This right to privacy was understood to cover medical privacy between a person and their physician and was also the logic used to provide federal protection for contraception in the 1965 case Griswold v. Connecticut. Though Roe was a contested decision, responses to Roe and to the morality of abortion varied. As religion scholar Samira Mehta writes, “Formal religious teachings on abortion are complex and divided—and official positions aside, data shows that over and over, the majority of Americans, religious or not, support abortion” (Mehta, Samira. “There Is No One Religious View on Abortion.” The Conversation, 13 June 2022). Several characters in A Spark of Light are deeply religious, and though their faith informs their actions, they have differing views on the morality of abortion.

In 2018, Mississippi passed a state law that banned the majority of abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.