What: "Between a Woman and Her Doctor: Prescriptions for Sex and Childbirth in the Twentieth Century" -- A lecture at the University of North Texas by Carolyn Herbst Lewis, assistant professor of history at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa. Presented by the UNT Department of History for Women's History Month.

When: 4:30 p.m. March 26 (Thursday)

Where: Room 270 of UNT's Business Leadership Building, 1307 W. Highland St.

Cost: Free

Contact: Danielle Longueville at historyevents@unt.edu

DENTON (UNT), Texas -- The Supreme Court's decision on Roe v. Wade may have asserted that some decisions on women's reproductive choices are between women and their doctors, but this idea doesn't question the fact that mainstream medical standards have often positioned doctors as authoritarians, not allies, in women's attempts to make health care choices, according to Carolyn Herbst Lewis.

Lewis, assistant professor of history at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, will discuss the balance of power in the doctor-patient relationship, and what that balance may suggest about how women need to reframe discussions of medical choice, during a free lecture at the University of North Texas March 26 (Thursday) for Women's History Month.

Lewis' presentation, "Between a Woman and Her Doctor: Prescriptions for Sex and Childbirth in the Twentieth Century," begins at 4:30 p.m. in Room 270 of UNT's Business Leadership Building, located at 1307 W. Highland St. in Denton. The lecture is sponsored by the UNT Department of History and the College of Arts and Sciences.

At Grinnell, Lewis teaches courses on American women's history, sex and sexuality in American history, the history of medicine in the U.S. and Cold War culture. She is currently researching the history of the Chicago Maternity Center and its founder, Joseph Bolivar DeLee, who created the center in 1890s to provide low-income women with medical assistance for home births.

After her lecture, Lewis will sign copies of her first book, "Prescription for Heterosexuality: Sexual Citizenship in the Cold War Era." In this book, Lewis reveals the connections that physicians made between individual sexual adjustment, family stability and national security during the Cold War, and the historical construction of heteronormativity.

Lewis has taught at Grinnell College since 2013. She was previously a faculty member at Louisiana State University. She received her bachelor's degree in women's studies and master's degree in American history from Ohio University and her doctoral degree in American women's history from the University of California, Santa Barbara.