Reproductive Rights Prof Blog

Call for Submissions: Conference on Reproductive Justice in a Changing World

Rutgers School of Law - Camden: Beyond Roe Conference: Call for Papers:

Throughout 2013, five law schools in the Delaware Valley will hold events exploring various aspects of reproductive justice in the 40 years post-Roe v. Wade. The final event in this series is a conference sponsored by the Rutgers School of Law – Camden that will take place on Friday, October 11 on the Rutgers campus in Camden, New Jersey.* You can fine more information about the conference here.

We are now pleased to invite proposals for papers and panels. The conference theme is Beyond Roe: Reproductive Justice in a Changing World. We welcome submissions on any topic related to the law, policy and reproduction, including avoiding reproduction, public policy related to reproduction, and reproductive regulation post-Roe.

Paper abstracts should be no more than 500 words, accompanied by a descriptive title for the paper proposed. Proposed panels should include a description of the overall topic, as well as a panel title and the titles of all the papers and panelists to be included in the panel.  Panels should include no less than 4 proposed panelists. Panel proposals should also be no more than 500 words. All submissions must include the names, e-mail addresses, and full affiliations of all authors.  In the case of panels and co-authored papers, please identify a corresponding author and provide sufficient detail in your abstract or proposal so that reviewers can fully assess your proposal and determine how it will fit with other proposals being reviewed.

There will be two plenary sessions at the conference and some submitted papers might be selected for plenary presentations. If you wish for us to consider your paper for a plenary session, please indicate that desire on your submission.

Please e-mail submissions (in .doc, .docx, or .pdf format) to beyondroe@camlaw.rutgers.edu by April 1, 2013. If you have any questions about the conference, please direct them to Kimberly Mutcherson at mutchers@camden.rutgers.edu.

Though the conference will have a primary focus on law, we also invite submissions from other disciplines including philosophy, the social sciences, critical cultural studies (gender and sexuality studies, disability studies, critical race studies, etc.), public health, and others. 

We urge you to interpret the conference theme broadly. While this conference emerges from the Roe anniversary, we seek to initiate and support discussion across a wide range of reproductive justice topics and want to build a conference program that looks forward to the world created in the wake of Roe rather than focusing narrowly on the Roe decision itself or on issues related to abortion. Possible topics for inclusion on the program include:

- Burgeoning markets in reproduction fueled by assisted reproductive technology (“ART”), including cross border fertility care (“reproductive tourism”), the market in gametes, creating of kinship ties without biological or genetic links, and informed consent in the fertility industry;

- Public health approaches to abortion, contraception, assisted reproduction, pregnancy and childbirth;

- Race, class, sexual orientation and access to childbearing and the economics of reproduction;

- The medical market and insurance issues related to abortion/contraception, prenatal care, childbirth and fertility services;

- Reproductive justice in the courts, including the future of the Supreme Court’s evolution on abortion access, treatment of pregnant prisoners, access to contraception, reproductive health services for undocumented immigrants, prenatal testing, etc.;

- Issues of abortion access, including training for a new generation of abortion providers, harassment of providers, and TRAP laws;

- Racialized and woman protective arguments against abortion and their impact on abortion access and reproductive health;

-  Familial privacy and the state, including the relationship between access to reproduction and parenting and the power wielded by child protective services;

- Intimate partner violence and reproduction;

- Affordable Care Act implications for reproductive health services;

- Pregnancy and the workplace; and

- Human rights discourse and access to reproductive health services.

There may be a publishing opportunity for interested conference participants. We will share more information about that possibility with panelists whose work is selected for inclusion in the conference program.

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* For those unfamiliar with our campus, we are located a few short minutes from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Amtrak’s 30^th street station is a 10-minute cab ride from campus and the Philadelphia International Airport is approximately 20 minutes from campus by cab. Philadelphia offers a wealth of cultural opportunities, including world-class museums, fine dining, theater, and an extensive public park system that can be enjoyed while away from the conference (http://www.visitphilly.com/). 

Feminist Legal Theory Conference (March 7-8, 2013)

University of Baltimore School of Law Center on Applied Feminism: Sixth Annual Feminist Legal Theory Conference, March 7-8, 2013:

Join the University of Baltimore School of Law, the University of Baltimore Law Review, and the Center on Applied Feminism for the sixth annual Feminist Legal Theory Conference. There is no charge to attend, but pre-registration is requested as seating is limited.   

RSVP here if you are interested in attending the full-day conference on Friday, March 8, 2013. Registrants for the full-day conference will be automatically registered for the keynote presentation.  

There is also a workshop session the afternoon of March 7, 2013, which you can register for here. For additional details about the conference, including accommodations and parking information, please visit our website.

Call for Submissions: NAWL Law Student Writing Competition

National Association of Women Lawyers: 2012-13 Selma Moidel Smith Law Student Writing Competition: 

The National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) is a national voluntary legal professional organization whose mission is the advancement of women in the legal profession and women’s rights. Since 1899, NAWL has served as an educational forum and active voice for the concerns of women lawyers in this country and abroad.  NAWL continues to support and advance the interests of women in and under the law, and in so doing, supports and advances the social, political, and professional empowerment of women. Through its programs and networks, NAWL provides the tools for women in the profession to advance, prosper and enrich the profession.  NAWL has established the annual Selma Moidel Smith Law Student Writing Competition to encourage and reward original law student writing on issues concerning women and the law. The rules for the competition are as follows:

Entrants should submit a paper on an issue concerning women’s rights or the status of women in the law.   The most recent winning paper was “All Things Being Equal, Women Lose. Investigating the Lack of Diversity Among the Recent Appointments to the Iowa Supreme Court” written by Abigail Rury, Michigan State University School of Law.

Essays will be accepted from students enrolled at any law school during the 2012-13 school year. The essays must be the law student author’s own work and must not have been submitted for publication elsewhere.  Papers written by students for coursework or independent study during the Summer, Fall or Spring semesters are eligible for submission.  Notwithstanding the foregoing, students may incorporate professorial feedback as part of a course requirement or supervised writing project.

FORMAT: Essays must be double-spaced in 12-point font, Times New Roman font type. All margins must be at least one inch. Entries must not exceed fifteen (15) pages of text, excluding notes, with footnotes placed as endnotes. Citation style should conform to The Bluebook – A Uniform System of Citation. Essays longer than 15 pages of text, excluding notes, or which are not in the required format may not be read.

JUDGING: NAWL Women Lawyers Journal^® designees will judge the competition. Essays will be judged based upon content, exhaustiveness of research, originality, writing style, and timeliness.

QUESTIONS: Questions regarding this competition should be addressed to the chair of the Writing Competition, Professor Jennifer Martin atjmartin@stu.edu.

SUBMISSION AND DEADLINE: Entries must be received by May 1, 2013. Entries received after the deadline will be considered only at the discretion of NAWL. Entries must provide a cover letter providing the title of your essay, school affiliation, email address, phone number and mailing address.  Entries must be submitted in the following format: email an electronic version (in Microsoft Word or PDF format) tojmartin@stu.edu.

AWARD: The author of the winning essay will receive a cash prize of $500. NAWL will also publish the winning essay in NAWL’s Women Lawyers Journal in the summer of 2013.

Call for Symposium Papers: "Gender Matters: Women, Social Policy and the 2012 Election"

Call for Symposium Papers

Gender Matters: Women, Social Policy and the 2012 Election 

April 2, 2013 at American University Washington College of Law, Washington, DC

The American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law and Women and the Law Program invite papers for a symposium on gender, social policy and the election of 2012. The organizers welcome papers that explore how current or proposed social polices affect the lives of women and their families, and/or that analyze what role, if any, rhetoric about those polices may have played in the recent election. Abstracts from professors or practitioners (sorry, no student pieces) addressing gender and health care, labor and employment, taxation, fiscal policy and social welfare or other relevant social policy are due by midnight January 7, 2013.  Papers selected will be presented at a symposium on April 2, 2013 at American University Washington College of Law, and strongly considered for publication.  To read the full Call for Papers and to submit an abstract online, please visit the symposium website. Please contact the organizers at gendersymposium2013@gmail.com with any questions.

"On Having Fun and Raising Hell" - A Symposium Honoring Ann Scales

Via Feminist Law Professors:  

“On Having Fun & Raising Hell” *

Symposium honoring the work of Professor Ann Scales

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Join the University of Denver Sturm College of Law to honor the life and work of Professor Ann Scales (1952-2012), author of many influential works including “Towards a Feminist Jurisprudence,” “The Emergence of Feminist Jurisprudence” and Legal Feminism: Activism, Lawyering and Legal Theory.

Keynote Speakers: Kathryn Abrams, UC Berkeley Law School & Katherine Franke, Columbia School of Law

For more information, please contact Stefanie Carroll at scarroll@law.du.edu or 303.871.6076. Registration information coming in December. 

* “Have fun.  Raise hell.  Question everything.  Celebrate difference.”  – Ann Scales

2013 Sarah Weddington Writing Student Scholarship Prize: Call for Submissions

Law Students for Reproductive Justice (LSRJ) and the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR): Invite Submissions for Eighth Annual Sarah Weddington Writing Prize – “Economic (In)Justice of Reproductive Regulation”: 

The 1st place winning submission will have a presumption of publishability and will  receive expedited review by New York University School of Law's Review of Law and Social Change. Winning authors will also receive cash prizes: $750 (1st place), $500 (2nd place), or $250 (3rd place).

 LSRJ & CRR seek student scholarship exploring the economic justice implications of laws and regulations that affect reproductive health and rights in the U.S. Papers may explore a range of issues, such as: tensions between affirmative state obligations and individual rights; consequences of health insurance regulation and the needs of individuals seeking preventative and/or “elective” reproductive care (e.g. should reproductive technologies and contraception be covered, and if so, how?); the impact of state support for specific practices (e.g. breastfeeding, vaccinations, birthing options) on the ability of women and families to make decisions about their care; and the role of the state in health care regulation and funding (e.g. how will Medicaid expansion affect reproductive health access? Who is most benefitted and/or who is left out of the Affordable Care Act?). These ideas are examples of topics that would fit the theme; however, many more issues could be fruitfully explored through the lens of economic justice. . . .

(Submissions due March 4, 2013)

Michele Bratcher Goodwin at the University of Utah: The New Reproductive Battlefront

Monday November 5, 12:15 p.m. MST
(2:15 p.m. EST, 11:15 a.m. PST)

Michele Bratcher Goodwin, the 47th Annual Leary Lecturer, is the Everett Fraser Professor in Law at the University of Minnesota. She holds joint appointments at the University of Minnesota Medical School and the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

Women's reproduction dominates recent political platforms and debates. However, relatively little attention has focused on the criminal policing targeted at pregnant women across America. Since the late 1980s, state legislatures have enacted punitive feticide laws that ostensibly apply to a broad range of activities, including falling down steps, suffering drug addiction, refusing cesarean sections, and attempting suicide. Legislators and prosecutors from both political parties have decided that a very strong "stick" should be used against pregnant women. Indeed, despite the fact that early feticide laws were intended to protect women from third party harms to their pregnancies, such as domestic violence, because women are more likely to be the targets of domestic violence during their pregnancies, now fetal protection laws—in 38 states—lead to unreasonable arrests and senseless convictions of pregnant women. The scope of the problem is difficult to measure. Yet, what is clear from the legal cases and news reports is that most of the victims are poor and many are women of color. In this year’s Leary Lecture, Professor Goodwin examines the expanded use of criminal laws and civil commitments to shape new reproductive health norms. Watch Live Online >>.

Free and open to the public. No registration required. One hour CLE.
Call 801-585-3479 or visit law.utah.edu.

Symposium, "In Search of Equality in Family Law": Call for Papers

Michigan State Law Review and Symposium (April 11-12, 2013) – Call for Papers: “In Search of Equality in Family Law”: 

The Michigan State Law Review along with Professors Melanie B. Jacobs and Cynthia Lee Starnes, invite participants for our upcoming symposium, "In Search of Equality in Family Law" to be held April 11-12, 2013. The list of confirmed presenters include keynote speaker, Dean David Meyer, and Professors Susan Appleton, Naomi Cahn, June Carbone, James Dwyer, Theresa Glennon, Leslie Harris, Courtney Joslin, Alicia Kelly, Linda McClain, Raymond O'Brien, Ruthann Robson, Barbara Stark, Richard Storrow, and Lynn Wardle.

The theme of the symposium is the continuing struggle to reform family law to ensure equality. The focus is on relationships within families, on access to the family structure, and on family members’ status in society at large. The topic of equality in family law is also particularly timely: family is at the heart of social debate and the focus on family is magnified as we approach an election year. Daily, news stories highlight issues of equality that arise in many areas of the family -- adult partnerships, including same-sex marriage; parenting responsibilities; divorce and its economics; paternity; the definition of family; same-sex adoptions; and full faith and credit recognition for out-of-state same-sex marriages. A central theme will be the sameness/difference debate in feminism over how equality is best attained: by treating men and women exactly the same, or by recognizing differences in power and circumstance so that different treatment is required to ensure equality. This topic will appeal to family law scholars working on a variety of projects.

In addition to the rich discussion at the Symposium, this dialogue will result in the publication of participant articles in an issue of the Michigan State Law Review. The Law Review is an acclaimed scholarly journal that publishes five issues yearly. Each participant is invited to offer an academic article for publication in the Law Review. Tentatively, final draft papers are due Friday, June 7, 2013.

The goal is to be inclusive and to engage scholars focusing on various reform issues in a conversation about the equality implications of their work. Interested individuals should send a one-page proposal to Professor Melanie Jacobs at mjacobs@law.msu.edu by October 31st.

2013-2014 LSRJ Reproductive Justice Fellowship Program Applications Now Available

Law Students for Reproductive Justice:  2013-14 Fellow Application Now Available:

In 2010, LSRJ launched a funded legal fellowship program for current 3Ls and recent law school graduates interested in working to advance reproductive justice through policy advocacy. Following a tremendous response from students and advocates in the field, LSRJ successfully selected and placed six Reproductive Justice (RJ) Fellows with six organizations in Washington, D.C. for the 2010-11 fellowship year.

The RJFP is intended to enhance capacity at reproductive justice organizations working to influence law and policy and to build a pipeline for future reproductive justice lawyers. The RJ Fellows are each paid $50,000 plus benefits and placed with placement organizations in Washington, D.C. for a year-long program (running August to August) that includes mentoring, professional development, training, and networking opportunities.

Applications for the 2013-14 Fellowship year are now available here. Fellow application deadline: November 1, 2012.

Cheryl Hanna on Importance of Highlighting Gender in Teaching Constitutional Law

Cheryl Hanna (Vermont Law School) has posted Gender as a Core Value in Teaching Constitutional Law on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

This essay was part of a symposium sponsored by the AALS Section on Women, entitled Gender as a Core Teaching Value. In this piece, Professor Hanna discusses the importance of highlighting gender in Constitutional Law courses, not just on 'equal protection day" but throughout the curriculum. To that end, she provides concrete ideas and examples about how to help students discuss issues of gender in a variety of cases and contexts.

Thanks To My Spring Research Assistants!

Thank you to my fabulous research assistants for their invaluable help with this blog during spring semester 2012:

Philip Grommet (3L), Beth Shyken (2L), and Olivia Carrano (2L)

President Obama Calls Sandra Fluke To Offer Support

The Washington Post: Obama calls Sandra Fluke, Georgetown law student assailed by Rush Limbaugh, by Felicia Sonmez:

Wading further into an escalating contraception battle that has put Republicans on the defensive, President Obama on Friday called Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown University law student who this week was derided as a “slut” and a “prostitute” by conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh for her defense of rules mandating that employer-provided insurance plans cover the cost of birth control. . . .

Limbaugh Apologizes To Law Student, Sandra Fluke

TheHill: Limbaugh apologizes for 'slut' comments, by Jamie Klatell & Vicki Needham:

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh apologized Saturday for calling the woman who testified in favor of President Obama's contraception mandate a "slut" and a "prostitute."

Limbaugh had come under intense pressure from President Obama and Democrats, who rushed to support the Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke, as they sought to turn the conservative talker’s comments against the GOP. And Republicans had begun to distance themselves from his incendiary comments. . . .

Advertisers Pull Commercials in Wake of Rush Limbaugh's Sexist Attack on Law Student Sandra Fluke

The Huffington Post: Rush Limbaugh Advertiser Sleep Train Pulls Commercials In Wake Of Sandra Fluke 'Slut' Firestorm (UPDATE: More Companies Join), by Jack Mirkinson:

One of Rush Limbaugh's advertisers announced Friday that it was pulling all of its commercials from his radio show in the wake of Limbaugh's incendiary comments about a female law student and contraception. (UPDATE: Another advertiser announced it was also ending its commercials later on Friday. Scroll to the bottom to see.)

After being bombarded on Twitter, mattress store Sleep Train said that it would no longer advertise during Limbaugh's top-rated show following days of outrage over Limbaugh's statements about Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown student who was denied a chance to speak at a Congressional hearing about birth control. . . .

MSNBC covered the story:

 

March 5: Deadline for Submissions for Sarah Weddington Prize for Student Scholarship on Reproductive Rights

Law Students for Reproductive Justice: 2012 Sarah Weddington Prize for New Student Scholarship in Reproductive Rights:

Law Students for Reproductive Justice (LSRJ) and the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) Law School Initiative invite submissions for the seventh annual Sarah Weddington Writing Prize.

The theme this year is “Legislating Stereotypes: Reproductive Rights Rollback in the States.”

Papers must be at least 20 pages in length (not including footnotes), double-spaced in 12-point font with footnotes in 10-point font, conforming to Bluebook citation format. Only original scholarship by current law students or 2011 graduates will be accepted. Papers submitted for publication elsewhere will be considered, but will be ineligible for first place if published elsewhere. Papers already contracted for publication as of March 2012 will not be accepted. Winners will be selected by an outside panel of legal and academic judges. Send your submission (in Word format as an email attachment) to submissions@lsrj.org by 5:00pm PST on Monday, March 5, 2012. The 1st place winning submission will be published in New York University School of Law’s Review of Law and Social Change. Winning authors will receive cash prizes: $750 (1st place), $500 (2nd place), or $250 (3rd place) and have the opportunity to be published in the Reproductive Justice Law & Policy SSRN e-journal.

For more information, see the call for submissions description.

Female Law Student, Barred from Testifying on House Contraception Panel, Speaks Out

The Politicker: Sandra Fluke Discusses Being Rejected From House Contraception Hearing, by Hunter Walker:

Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke talked to The Politicker today about her rejection from yesterday’s House oversight committee hearing on President Barack Obama’s controversial contraception coverage rule. House Democrats wanted Ms. Fluke to be a witness at the hearing, but the committee’s chair, California Congressman Darrell Issa, denied the request and said she was ”not found to be appropriate or qualified.” . . .

Sandra Fluke posted the testimony she intended to give on YouTube:

 

Justice Ginsburg Discusses Court's Abortion Jurisprudence

ABA Journal: Justice Ginsburg: Roe v. Wade Decision Came Too Soon, by Debra Cassens Weiss:

The U.S. Supreme Court may have moved too quickly when it found a constitutional right to abortion in Roe v. Wade, according to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Speaking at a Columbia Law School symposium on Friday, Ginsburg said the court could have delayed hearing the case while state law evolved on the issue, the Associated Press reports. "It's not that the judgment was wrong, but it moved too far too fast,” she said. . . .

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The full AP story is here.

I attended this symposium and was also struck by Justice Ginsburg's story about a case that she felt would have been the better case to bring first, one in which a woman in the military faced discharge because she chose to carry her pregnancy to term.  Justice Ginsburg said she thought this would have been a wiser first step, because the woman's choice was for childbirth.  Here's a story on Justice Ginsburg's discussion of that case: Salon: Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s alternative abortion history, by Irin Carmon.

-CEB

Catholic Universities Rebel at Contraceptive Coverage Requirement; Students Pay the Price

The New York Times: Ruling on Contraception Draws Battle Lines at Catholic Colleges, by Denise Grady:

Bridgette Dunlap, a Fordham University law student, knew that the school’s health plan had to pay for birth control pills, in keeping with New York state law. What she did not find out until she was in an examining room, “in the paper dress,” was that the student health service — in keeping with Roman Catholic tenets — would simply refuse to prescribe them.

As a result, students have had to go to Planned Parenthood or private doctors to get prescriptions. Some, unable to afford the doctor visits, gave up birth control pills entirely. . . .

CUNY Law Clinic Submits Report to UN Human Rights Committee on Reproductive Rights in Philippines

CUNY School of Law: New IWHR Reports on Reproductive Rights in Philippines and Sexual Exploitation in Haiti:

The International Women’s Human Rights Clinic and the Center for Reproductive Rights jointly submitted a report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee on issues related to the status of women’s reproductive rights in the Philippines. The paper reports on the efforts of the Philippine Government to adopt public health laws that ensure women’s rights. It finds that some specific laws, including a nationwide criminal ban on abortion without any clear exceptions and restrictions on contraceptive information, “constitute an ongoing and immediate threat to women’s life, reproductive health, and rights.” . . .

Thanks to my research assistants!

 

 

 

 

Many thanks to CUNY Law students Beth Shyken (2L) and Phillip Grommet (3L) for their excellent work researching for this blog in 2011!