Reproductive Rights Prof Blog

Yale Law School Conference on Sexual and Reproductive Rights

Today through Sunday, Yale Law School hosts a conference on "The Future of Sexual and Reproductive Rights.":

Constitutional law and politics have changed greatly since the last outpouring of legal scholarship on questions of reproductive rights in the 1980s and 1990s. That wave of scholarship anticipated and responded to the Court’s decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Today we are once again at a crossroads. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last term in Gonzales v. Carhart and the Court’s 2003 decision in Lawrence v. Texas have signaled the possibility of dramatic changes in the near future. They are fueling a call for a renewed conversation about the law and politics of this contentious field.

The Yale Law School Conference will assemble leading thinkers, cultural observers and journalists who focus on these subjects.  They will offer and test a range of cutting-edge insights about what could and should develop in these critical areas.  Part of their work will be an examination of the pressures that are brought to bear on news media when covering abortion or same-sex marriage, the attempt to require that both points of view are given equal weight and whether journalists have a duty to test conflicting claims.  The Conference is co-sponsored by the Law School’s Law and Media Program (LAMP).  It will begin long before anyone arrives in New Haven, with thought-pieces posted by panelists in September on the well-known legal blog, Balkinization.

Click here for the conference program.

Yale Journal of Law and Feminism: Symposium on Pregnancy Discrimination Act

Yale Journal of Law and Feminism: Respecting Expecting: The 30th Anniversary of the PDA:

Please join the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism at a Symposium celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. We will be commemorating this landmark occasion, along with the twentieth anniversary of the Journal, with a symposium featuring the women and men who have been involved in every critical phase of the decades-long campaign for sex equality in the workplace. The event will bring together distinguished advocates and scholars from across the country to share their insights into the PDA and the future of workplace equality. Judge Marsha Berzon will be our Keynote speaker.

The Symposium will be held on Nov. 7-8, 2008.  Click on the above link for more information.

Call for Papers: Second Annual Feminist Legal Theory Conference

University of Baltimore School of Law’s Second Annual Feminist Legal Theory Conference is seeking submissions on Applied Feminism: How Feminist Legal Theory is Changing the Law:

This call for papers seeks submissions for the University of Baltimore School of Law’s Second Annual Feminist Legal Theory Conference.  The conference will be held at the University of Baltimore on Friday, March 6, 2009.  The conference will bring together law students, legal academics, practitioners and activists to explore the concrete ways in which feminist legal theory is (or is not) changing the law. 

Abstracts for the papers should be sent by October 17, 2008 to Leigh Goodmark (lgoodmark@ubalt.edu). Abstracts should be no longer than one page.  Abstracts for the papers selected to be presented at the conference will be posted on the website and distributed to all presenters and attendees.   Working drafts of papers are due no later than February 13, 2009.  The working drafts will be posted on the conference website to be shared with other participants and attendees.  Materials from last year’s conference can be viewed on our website at http://law.ubalt.edu/femconf/. Finally, please note that a limited amount of money may be available to presenters for travel expenses.

Materials from the Marie Stopes Global Safe Abortion Conference now available online

Online videos, audios, powerpoints and notes of the proceedings of the Marie Stopes Global Safe Abortion Conference held in London last October are now available here, including:

"Expanding Access to Legal Abortion: The Policy Guideline Trend"
Keynote Presentation by Joanna Erdman
Powerpoint
Video
Session 6
Media coverage (Argentine newspaper article)

"Accommodating Women's Differences under the Women's
Anti-Discrimination Convention"
Presentation by Rebecca Cook
Session 8.29:
Powerpoint
Minutes

"The Legal and Ethical Context of Conscientious Objection"
Presentation by Bernard Dickens
Session 8.32:
Powerpoint
Minutes

Via Linda Hutjens (Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Programme, Univ. of Toronto).

 

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy and the Center for Health Law Studies present:

20th Annual Saint Louis University Health Law Symposium

             

                  

                  Friday, April 4, 2008
                    8  a.m. to 4 p.m.
                  Location: Courtroom

The desire to form a family and have a child has long been central to many people’s idea of a good life. It has also long been surrounded by stigma for people with disabilities -- whether parents, prospective parents or children -- who continue to face barriers to the full enjoyment of reproductive autonomy, parenting and family life. Against this backdrop, advances in technology such as assisted reproductive technologies and prenatal diagnostic techniques represent the potential for increased access to informed reproductive choice but also for the increased stigmatization of individuals with actual or perceived disabilities. Available care, services and support often reflect an inaccurate understanding of what it means to be disabled, for both parents and children. This Symposium will examine the impact of these issues on parents, prospective parents and children living with disabilities.

For more information, see the conference website.

 

Brooklyn Law School Symposium Today on "Decentralizing Rights"

Brooklyn Law School is hosting a symposium, Decentralizing Rights: State-level Strategies to Promote Justice and Equality, today:

In the mid-20th century, the Warren Court revolutionized constitutional law by nationalizing norms of rights and equality. From Brown v. Board of Education to Miranda v. Arizona to Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court invited those seeking to promote rights and equality to litigate in the federal courts. But, following changes in the composition of the Court in later decades, the tide has turned.

The Roberts Court has shown a willingness to water down or eliminate rights in some areas and seems likely to continue the trend of lowering the federal constitutional floor. Litigators who explore the alternative of going to the states confront the expense of litigating issues fifty times instead of one, among other challenges.

This symposium will assess how organizations whose mission is to promote rights and equality have responded to these challenges. It will compare the strategies that have led to successor failure in different areas, such as the death penalty, reproductive freedom, LGBT rights, eminent domain, and school equity, and will consider how well national and local organizations have adapted to decentralization.

More information is available here.

Conference on Gender and Intellectual Property

 

American University Washington College of Law's Journal of Gender, Social Policy and the Law, Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property, and Women and the Law Program present:

The Fifth Annual
IP/Gender: Mapping the Connections
Exploring the rich intersection of intellectual property law and feminist theory.

April 4, 2008
American University Washington College of Law
4801 Massachusetts Avenue, NW • Washington, DC 20016

Click here for more information and registration.

Brooklyn Law School Symposium Today on "Partial-Birth Abortion" Bans

I am looking forward to participating in a symposium today at Brooklyn Law School, "The 'Partial-Birth Abortion' Ban: Health Care in the Shadow of Criminal Liability."  My co-panelists are Talcott Camp (Deputy Director, ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project), David Meyer (University of Illinois & Visiting Professor at Brooklyn Law School), and Priscilla Smith (Visiting Fellow at Yale Law School).  Nan Hunter (Brooklyn Law School) will moderate the panel.  For a description of the symposium and a full list of speakers, click here.  Papers will be published in the Brooklyn Journal of Law & Policy.

More blog posts on AALS Hot Topic Panel on Gonzales v. Carhart

David Cohen has posted commentary on the panel at Feminist Law Professors, focusing on which women are most affected by abortion bans on post-first-trimester procedures. 

Michael Dorf (one of the speakers) also comments, at Dorf on Law, on a disagreement between him and Jack Balkin on whether the Republican party has actively sought the reversal of Roe or has instead self-consciously pursued a strategy of incremental restrictions.

AALS "Hot Topic" Panel on "Reproductive Justice After Carhart"

I thought I would say a bit about this informative and insightful panel, a "hot topic" panel at this year's AALS meeting in New York, for those who were unable to attend.  While it is of course not possible to summarize the entire session (and unfortunately I don't believe the AALS is offering podcasts of this year's sessions), I hope this will give a flavor of what the audience heard. 

The topic was Gonzales v. Carhart (Carhart II), the Supreme Court's 2007 decision upholding the federal ban on so-called "partial-birth abortion," and the decision's implications for the future of reproductive justice.  (For all this blog's posts on Carhart II, including my own and links to others' analyses of the opinion, click here.)  The session was conducted in a roundtable format with Pamela Karlan (Stanford) posing questions to the five panelists, Jack Balkin (Yale), Michael Dorf (Columbia), Angela Harris (Boalt), Reva Siegel (Yale), and Kenji Yoshino (Yale).

Professor Karlan explained that the panel was not intended to present the full spectrum of views on the opinion, since all of the panelists are pro-choice, but rather was meant to allow the audience to hear, and participate in, a conversation in which the speakers have been engaged since the decision was issued last year.  The panelists first discussed what was particularly noteworthy about the opinion.  They explored the opinion's rhetoric, including its references to the fetus as an "unborn child" and to the pregnant woman as "mother."  The speakers considered the implications of the Court's anachronistic, romantic idealization of pregnancy and motherhood.  Audience members were particularly interested in the panelists' discussion of the role of regret in Kennedy's opinion, which asserted (confessedly against the weight of the evidence) that pregnant women will necessarily regret their abortions.  Professor Siegel pointed out that this aspect of Kennedy's opinion reflects a new trend in anti-choice advocacy to portray abortion as psychologically harmful to women, rather than focusing on the fetus.  She noted the importance of South Dakota, where this shift has been the source of great public debate and has resulted in legislative experiments testing the new approach. 

Professor Balkin discussed another aspect of the Court's paternalistic approach, namely its confidence in posing as a medical expert in terms of what information pregnant women should know.  He pointed out that this has worrisome implications for legal challenges to the new generation of so-called "informed consent laws," including Planned Parenthood v. Rounds, now pending in the 8th Circuit.  It could encourage legislatures to pass laws requiring women to view ultrasounds of their fetuses and to receive a wide range of emotionally charged, misleading information unrelated to the medical aspects of abortion.

The speakers also addressed inconsistencies between aspects of this opinion and other decisions authored by Kennedy.  Professor Dorf noted, for example, that Kennedy is not known for giving deference to Congress, and while he formally purported not to defer to Congress, he nevertheless did so informally.  Professor Harris noted that, in Lawrence v. Texas, Kennedy declared that mere abhorrence was insufficient to justify criminal prohibition, and yet Carhart II seems based on nothing more than abhorrence. 

The panel also considered the constitutional principles invoked in the decision.  Professor Yoshino remarked on the related nature of liberty and equality, noting that while the principle of equality often operates to expand liberty, it can also be employed to contract it.  That is what happened in Carhart II, where the principle of equality (viewed as protection of a targeted group) was turned against women. The opinion was cast as protective of women, but in fact stifles their liberty.

Reminder: AALS Hot Topics Panel on Reproductive Justice After Gonzales v. Carhart

The AALS Hot Topics Panel “Reproductive Justice After Carhart,” is tomorrow, Friday, Jan. 4, from 10:30am-12:15pm:

Moderators:Pamela S. Karlan, Stanford Law School
  Jack M. Balkin, Yale Law School
  Panelists :     Michael C. Dorf, Columbia University School of Law
    Reva B. Siegel, Yale Law School
    Kenji Yoshino, Yale Law School
    Angela P. Harris, University of California, Berkeley School of Law       

        This roundtable will discuss Gonzales v. Carhart, the Supreme Court’s 2007 decision upholding the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act.  Panelists will focus on the ways that Carhart has emerged from and is reshaping debate over questions of reproductive justice in popular movements, the academy, state legislatures, and the courts.
         
        Carhart suggests a new understanding of the state' s interest in regulating abortion, as well as a new understanding of the abortion right itself.  Discussion will explore how the abortion right might be grounded in principles of sexual freedom and gender equality. Drawing on examples of abortion regulation now in state legislatures, the roundtable will examine the constituent elements of the government's interest in regulating abortion, including the government's asserted interest in protecting women from psychological harms associated with the abortion decision and  the equities of imposing more extensive and value-laden informed consent requirements, as many states are now contemplating. The group will also discuss changes in the structure of abortion-related litigation, such as the distinction between as-applied and facial attacks on abortion regulations, especially as this bears on the requirement of a health exception.

Also of interest:

Friday 4-5:45 pm:

Law and the Interpretation of Sex and Gender

Moderator: Marc R. Poirier, Seton Hall University School of Law
Speakers: Carlos A. Ball, The Pennsylvania State University Dickinson School of Law
Mary Anne C. Case, The University of Chicago The Law School
Frank Rudy Cooper, Suffolk University Law School
Dean P. Spade, Law Teaching Fellow, Los Angeles, California

This panel assembles established and emerging scholars whose work has examined law and the interpretation of sex and gender from feminist, Foucauldian and left critical perspectives. They will present their current work. Topics likely to be addressed include the legal control of sexuality after Lawrence v. Texas, the incipient reinscription of sex roles in law, masculinity norms and police treatment of suspects, and the disintegration of legal gender.

Friday  4:00 - 5:45 p.m.

The 140th Anniversary of the Ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment: What is the Future of Rights Litigation?

Moderator: Bernadette Bollas Genetin, University of Akron C. Blake McDowell Law Center
Speakers: Samuel R. Bagenstos, Washington University School of Law
Wilson Ray Huhn, University of Akron C. Blake McDowell Law Center
Sylvia A. Law, New York University School of Law
Robert C. Post, Yale Law School

July 2008 will mark the 140th anniversary of the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The panel uses this anniversary as a platform for discussion of the future of rights litigation. The panel will explore a range of issues, including (1) the future development of the 14th Amendment, in light of the interdependence of constitutional law and political mobilization; (2) the likely effects of globalization, empiricism, technological advance, and demographic change on constitutional analysis and rights in the 21st Century; (3) the unlikely prospects for an expanded role for the Fourteenth Amendment in the 21st Century in addressing the economic insecurity and inequality that the U.S. is experiencing in numbers greater than at any time since the Great Depression; and (4) the tensions that will emerge in civil rights litigation as a result of the Rehnquist Court’s strategy of imposing significant restrictions on civil rights litigation through limitation of civil rights remedies, while leaving largely intact the substantive rights that had been expanded by the Warren and Burger Courts.

Saturday 1:30 - 3:15 p.m.

The Margins of Legal Personhood

(Program to be published in Rutgers Law Journal)

Moderator: Kimberly Kessler Ferzan, Rutgers, The State University of N.J. School of Law, Camden
Speakers: Taimie L. Bryant, University of California at Los Angeles School of Law
Margaret O. Little, Associate Professor, Philosophy Department, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
Paul Litton, University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law
Lawrence B. Solum, University of Illinois College of Law

This panel explores those “entities” that lie at the boundaries of legal personhood. Specifically, how should the law treat animals, artificial intelligence, fetuses, and psychopaths? And do our views about how to treat one entity commit us to similar treatment of another? For instance, do our views about the treatment of animals inform our understanding of abortion? If we would not hold artificial intelligence criminally responsible, does the same reasoning hold for psychopaths? During this panel, each speaker will discuss one of these “entities” and then the panelists will engage in a discussion of the connections between their theories.

AALS HOT TOPIC panel on "Reproductive Justice after Carhart"

There will be a Hot Topic panel on "Reproductive Justice after Carhart" at the AALS Annual Meeting in New York.  Here is the information:

Friday, January 4, 2008
10:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
Petit Trianon, 3 rd floor, New York Hilton
Moderators: Pamela S. Karlan, Stanford Law School
Jack M. Balkin, Yale Law School
Panelists: Michael C. Dorf, Columbia University School of Law
Reva B. Siegel, Yale Law School
Kenji Yoshino, Yale Law School
Angela P. Harris, University of California, Berkeley School of Law
This roundtable will discuss Gonzales v. Carhart, the Supreme Court's 2007 decision upholding the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act.  Panelists will focus on the ways that Carhart has emerged from and is reshaping debate over questions of reproductive justice in popular movements, the academy, state legislatures, and the courts.

Carhart suggests a new understanding of the state' s interest in regulating abortion, as well as a new understanding of the abortion right itself.  Discussion will explore how the abortion right might be grounded in principles of sexual freedom and gender equality. Drawing on examples of abortion regulation now in state legislatures, the roundtable will examine the constituent elements of the government's interest in regulating abortion, including the government's asserted interest in protecting women from psychological harms associated with the abortion decision and  the equities of imposing more extensive and value-laden informed consent requirements, as many states are now contemplating. The group will also discuss changes in the structure of abortion-related litigation, such as the distinction between as-applied and facial attacks on abortion regulations, especially as this bears on the requirement of a health exception.

Reproductive Health in Emergencies Conference 2008

Reproductive Health (RH) in Emergencies Conference 2008 will bring together a wide range of actors from the fields of RH in emergencies, reproductive health, humanitarian assistance and development to contribute to the expansion of comprehensive RH services in crisis settings. We invite you to participate in this important dialogue and help to ensure that refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) receive the comprehensive RH care to which                                  they are entitled.

Abstracts are now being accepted. The due date for                                                       submissions is January 31, 2008.

For more information, see the RAISE website.

    

    

Conference: The Abortion Controversy in Context: Protest & Policy

I am looking forward to participating in "The Abortion Controversy in Context,"  a conference organized by Lucinda Finley, Athena Mutua, and Martha McCluskey (all of Buffalo), being held today and tomorrow at the Baldy Center for Law & Social Policy, University at Buffalo Law School.  From the conference website:

Panelists will examine movements and their political organizing around the  abortion issue, the impact of the social and legal controversy on health care, including the recent efforts to cast access to safe and legal abortion in an international human rights framework, and important new constitutional developments. 

See the conference website for the full program.

Sexual Freedom Coming to Philadelphia October 6th, 2007

The Woodhull Freedom Foundation announces:

Woodhull's Sexual Freedom Forum

What IS Sexual Freedom? And, more importantly, why should I care about it?

Register NOW and join a group of nationally renowned speakers and local organizers - experienced sexual freedom activists and trainers - and learn how to create social and political change.

This fabulous forum offers a full day of discussions and skill-building/problem-solving sessions featuring some of the best known leaders in the social change movement.

Saturday, October 6th 2007
Registration: 9:30 am
Forum: 10:00 am - 4:30 pm

For more information, visit the Woodhull Freedom Foundation Website.

Symposium on Abortion in Canada and Call for Student Abstracts

Via the Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Listserv of the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Programme, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto:

The International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Programme and the National Abortion Federation present:

A Symposium to Mark the 20th Anniversary of R v. Morgentaler
Of What Difference: Reflections on the Judgment and Abortion in
Canada Today

Friday, January 25, 2008, 9:00am  5:00pm
Faculty of Law, University of Toronto

This symposium celebrates the twenty year anniversary of R v. Morgentaler, wherein the Supreme Court of Canada held the criminal law on abortion unconstitutional. The symposium examines the significance of the judgment today: What difference has it made to women, providers and the politics of abortion in Canada?

Students are invited to submit abstracts on subjects related to the symposium, including:

• Rights in Practice: Barriers to Available and Accessible Services

• How does the law facilitate or impede Canadian women’s access to abortion?

• Our Abortion Providers: The Challenge of Their Work  What obstacles does a provider face in delivering care? How do we improve provider training and awareness?

• Abortion in Law and Politics  What role should the media play in the abortion debate? What is the relationship between law and politics in abortion reform?

• Canada in an International Context How does the regulation of abortion in Canada compare to other countries?

Three students will be selected to attend and display their posters at the symposium. Poster expenses, travel (within Canada) and accommodation for selected students will be covered.

Please submit abstracts of 250 words or less by November 1, 2007 to reprohealth.law@utoronto.ca

Successful applicants will be notified by email by December 10, 2007. For further information, contact Simone Cusack.

Symposium: The New Face of Women's Legal History

The symposium will be held at the University of Akron School of Law on October 19th, 2007.  From the conference website:

The New Face of Women's Legal History Symposium brings together legal scholars and historians to focus on modern scholarship reviving and recreating the field of women's history. The broad theme reaches the diverse array of topics that form the base of recent work in gender and legal scholarship. The annual symposium is part of the tradition growing out of The University of Akron's Constitutional Law Center.

Reva Siegel (Yale) will be the keynote speaker.

Marie Stopes International Conference on Global Safe Abortion

The Marie Stopes International Conference on Global Safe Abortion, in association with Ipas and Abortion Rights (UK), will be held on October 23rd and 24th this year at the QEII Conference Centre in London.  The conference coincides with the 40th anniversary of the UK 1967 Abortion Act.  The theme for the conference is "Whose Right?  Whose Choice? Who Cares?," and the intent is to "build consensus and momentum around international efforts to reduce the unacceptable toll on women’s health and lives caused by unsafe abortion, through increasing access to safe services, recognising women’s right to self determination and encouraging legal reform."

More information can be found at the Marie Stopes International website.

The National Black Religious Summit 11 on Sexuality: Breaking the Silence is happening this week

From the website of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (where you can also download a copy of the brochure):

THE NATIONAL BLACK RELIGIOUS Summit 11 on Sexuality: Breaking the Silence
July 11-13, 2007 at Howard University School of Divinity in Washington, DC
Black clergy, laity, and youth will continue the dialogue on critical issues affecting the African American community, including teen pregnancy, sexuality and religion, domestic violence, HIV/AIDS and other issues of reproductive health.

The conference is part of the National Black Church Initiative, which "encourages and assists African American clergy and laity in addressing teen childbearing, sexuality education, unintended pregnancies, and other reproductive health issues within the context of African American culture and religion."

 

Reproductive Medicine and the Law Conference Begins Tomorrow

A joint AALS and ASRM Workshop on Reproductive Medicine and Law takes place this week on June 20-22 in Vancouver.  Visit the conference website.

SisterSong Will Hold 2007 National Conference

SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective will hold its 2007 National Conference, entitled “Let’s Talk about Sex,” in Chicago, May 31-June 3.  The conference will be hosted by African American Women Evolving.

Read more, and register for the conference, at the SisterSong website.

Fourth Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights

The Fourth Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights will be held on October 29-31, 2007, in Hyderabad, India. The conference theme is "Exploring New Frontiers in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights."  From the conference website:

The conference will provide a platform for people with diverse perspectives, expertise and experience to exchange ideas, discuss and debate issues of concern, and learn from each other about sexual and reproductive health and rights, with specific reference to the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD, 1994).

Click here for information about abstract submissions.

Legally Female: What Does It Mean To Be “Ms. JD”? Conference Was Held on 3/31

The conference Legally Female: What Does It Mean To Be “Ms. JD”? was held on March 31 at Yale Law School.  The conference was a collaboration between Yale Law Women and the national blog, Ms. JD, which explores the status of women in the legal profession.

Susan Cartier Liebel attended the conference and describes her experience on her blog.

Women's Equality Summit Is Next Week

The Women's Equality Summit & National Congressional Action Day will be held on March 26 & 27 in Washington, D.C.  Here is the description:

The National Council of Women's Organizations and the Younger Women's Task force are proud to announce the Women's Equality Summit and Congressional Action Day, March 26th and 27th, 2007.

Women were the leaders for change in the 2006 elections, voting for ethical government, fair wages, reproductive rights and a new direction on the Iraq war.  Women's voices are being heard.  Now it's time to move our agenda forward!

Hundreds of women leaders and their allies will gather in the nation's capital for two days of briefings, training sessions and face-to-face meetings with Members of Congress and national women leaders. The Summit is a project of the National Council of Women's Organizations (NCWO), the largest coalition of women's groups in the country, and the Younger Women's Task Force (YWTF), the grassroots movement that engages women in their 20's and 30's to act on the issues that matter most to them.

Read more at the conference website.

Annual Reproductive Rights Conference

The Hampshire College Annual Reproductive Rights Conference will be held March 30-April 1. The conference is free.  Here is the description:

Join us from March 30 - April 1, 2007 at Hampshire College to unite for reproductive justice. Last year, over 1000 activists attended this national conference to learn, network, and strategize for reproductive rights and social justice. Over 60 speakers from the US and abroad are offering more than 30 workshops and trainings over the weekend. Conference speakers address reproductive freedom as it relates to a broad range of social justice initiatives including economic justice, health care reform, racial equality, anti-war activism, freedom from violence, youth liberation, civil liberties, and LGBTQ rights.

Over the weekend, you will learn about and share organizing experiences and strategies, broaden your understanding of reproductive rights, and make connections with other related movements and issues.

For more information, visit the conference website.

AALS 2007 Annual Meeting Podcast Now Available for "Reproductive Rights -- The Next Decade"

You can now download the podcast from the AALS website for the 2007 Annual Meeting "Hot Topic" panel Reproductive Rights -- The Next Decade (scroll down to the afternoon sessions and click on the title to download the podcast):

Roe 's future is increasingly contested. In November, a sharply divided Supreme Court heard argument in the late-term abortion case, and Senator John McCain, a leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination, announced that he supports Roe 's overruling. With continuing debate over Roe , justifications for abortion restrictions are in flux. South Dakota recently enacted an abortion ban to protect women from abortion; even as voters rejected the ban for lack of a rape/incest exception, woman-protective antiabortion argument is emerging as an important new justification for abortion restrictions in arenas around the country. The site of the reproductive rights conflict is shifting. Debate about abortion now engulfs the regulation of stem cell research and contraception; President Bush just appointed a doctor to direct federal family planning programs who serves on the board of the National Abstinence Clearinghouse (directed by the woman who led the abortion ban campaign in South Dakota ).

The panel will ask how recent and longer-term shifts in law and politics will – or should – alter the ways we reason about reproductive rights and the institutions we expect to protect them. The panelists include: Walter Dellinger, Duke University ; Dawn E. Johnsen, Indiana University-Bloomington; Jeffrey Rosen, George Washington University ; and Reva B. Siegel, Yale University.

Workshop on Reproductive Medicine and Law

The AALS and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine are holding a joint Workshop on Reproductive Medicine and Law in Vancouver, British Columbia, on June 20-22, 2007.  Here is the conference description:

After more than two decades, assisted reproductive technologies (ART) coupled with increasingly sophisticated prenatal diagnostic techniques still raise a host of vexing questions for families, scholars, and legal and medical practitioners. Who gets access to these technologies, and why? Money is important as well as all sorts of judgments about who is “fit” to parent, whether on the basis of age, race, marital status or sexual orientation. Scholars from a variety of cross cultural, feminist, religious, and race perspectives have explored the social implications of the increasing array of choices. Questions increasingly arise about the role of state and professional regulation of these practices, and different countries have taken dramatically different approaches. The implications of ART and its use and control are far broader, shedding important light on views of the families, the practice of medicine, and the roles of different perspectives and beliefs in our society and our world. All these issues will be discussed during the workshop. 

Conference on The Implications of Reproductive Technologies on Parenthood

An international conference on The Implications of Reproductive Technologies on Parenthood at the Beginning of the 21st Century will be held on June 11- 13, 2007, in Netanya, Israel.  The conference is being by the Center for Law and Medicine at the Netanya Academic College School of Law.  Here is the conference description:

Originally developed as treatment for infertility reproductive technologies are now offered as commercial services for clients who are not necessarily infertile and for purposes other than reproduction. Expanding the use of these technologies has changed society’s perception of parenthood and family life, and more generally re-examined the notion of procreative liberty and its social effects. The conference will address the legal and ethical issues surrounding these changes and examine their implications on the broader concerns occupying anyone who is interested in the ethics of reproductive technology.    

The deadline for abstracts is January 31.  For more information, visit the conference website.

National Advocates for Pregnant Women Summit Concludes

The National Advocates for Pregnant Women's National Summit to Ensure the Health & Humanity of Pregnant and Birthing Women concluded on Sunday 1/21.  View the conference program and read bloggers' reports on the Summit.