Gender and the Law Blog

Elizabeth Haub School of Law Announces Women, Gender & the Law Emerging Scholar Award: Call for Submissions

Elisabeth Haub School of Law's has released a Call for Submission in its annual Women, Gender & the Law Emerging Scholar Award. The announcement is here.  

Women, Gender & the Law Emerging Scholar Award: Call for Submissions

 

The Elisabeth Haub School of Law is pleased to announce the competition for its annual Women, Gender & the Law Emerging Scholar Award.  This paper competition is open to all having with five (5) or fewer years of full-time law teaching experience as of July 1, 2024. The deadline for submissions is July 1, 2024.

 

The purpose of the award is to encourage and recognize excellent legal scholarship related to gender and the law.  The work chosen for the Women, Gender & the Law Emerging Scholar Award should make a substantial contribution to legal literature and reflect original research and/or major developments in previously reported research.

 

Papers will be reviewed on a blind basis by a committee comprised of members of the Haub Law faculty with expertise in this area.  The winner of the competition will be invited to present the paper to selected students and faculty at Haub Law (located in White Plains, NY) during the 2024-2025 academic year, with reasonable travel expenses from within the continental U.S. paid, or via Zoom, as circumstances permit and by mutual agreement.

 

ELIGIBILITY:

 

All persons who have held full-time teaching positions for five (5) or fewer full academic years as of July 1, 2024 are eligible for consideration. One does not have to be on the tenure-track or tenured to be eligible. Time as a VAP or Fellow does not "count against" the five (5) year clock.

 

There is no subject-matter limitation for submissions, as long as the paper relates in some way to gender and the law.

 

Jointly authored papers are accepted as long as each author independently meets the eligibility requirements.

 

PUBLICATION COMMITMENTS/LIMITATIONS:

 

There is no publication commitment associated with the competition. 

 

Papers are eligible regardless of whether they were published prior to submission date, are scheduled to be published after the submission date, or are not yet under submission.

 

Each applicant is limited to one (1) entry.

 

Papers considered in prior years' competitions are eligible for resubmission.

 

There are no page-length or word-count limitations.

 

All publications (including scholarly articles, book chapters, legal briefs and other writings) are eligible for consideration.

 

SUBMISSION:

 

We will accept submissions for the Emerging Scholar Award from June 1, 2024, through July 1, 2024. The winner will be announced by August 30, 2024.

 

To participate, please email your work, redacted as necessary to preserve anonymity (for the blind judging process), as a portable data file (PDF) to Judy Jaeger, Senior Staff Associate, at [email protected] with the subject line "Emerging Scholar Award."

 

Please include in the body of the email your name, institutional affiliation and confirmation that you meet the eligibility requirements.

 

Unredacted or late papers will not be considered.

 

Symposium Advancing Pregnant Persons' Right to Life

Boston University School of Law, Advancing Pregnant Persons' Right to Life

On February 8, 2024, scholars of law, medicine, and religion from across the world came together at Boston University School of Law to discuss the potential of promoting and protecting reproductive justice through advancing pregnant persons’ right to life. Stemming from that event are six articles and an annotated bibliography from leading legal scholars. This historic and important symposium is captured in its entirety in the video below.

The Free Exercise Right to Life
David A. Carrillo, Allison G. Macbeth, & Daniel Bogard
104 B.U. Law Review Online 19 (2024)

Religion Clause Challenges to Early Abortion Bans 
Caroline Mala Corbin
104 B.U. Law Review Online 37 (2024)

Medical Authority and the Right to Life
Jessie Hill
104 B.U. Law Review Online 67 (2024)

The Right to Life as a Source of Abortion Rights: Lessons from Kansas
Richard E. Levy
104 B.U. Law Review Online 87 (2024)

Turning Away from Criminal Abortion Laws and Towards Support for Pregnant People and Families
Cynthia Soohoo
104 B.U. Law Review Online 109 (2024)

Reproductive Justice and the Thirteenth Amendment
Rebecca E. Zietlow
104 B.U. Law Review Online 143 (2024)

Annotated Bibliography: “Persons Born” and the Jurisprudence of “Life
Martha F. Davis
104 B.U. Law Review Online 161 (2024)

Judy Stinson Lecture on "Reclaiming the Singular They"

Robert Anderson presented the Judy Stinson Lecture at Arizona State University on the topic of "Reclaiming the Singular They in Legal Writing." A recording of the presentation is available here.  It gives background on the grammatical prohibition on the singular they.  It describes a historic tension between grammar guides and dictionaries on this issue. The underlying article that was the basis for the lecture is available here. 

CFP First Annual West Coast Sexuality, Gender and the Law Conference

First Annual West Coast Sexuality, Gender and the Law Conference
Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, California
March 22-23, 2024

Call for Papers

Abstract Submission Deadline: December 15, 2023

We are pleased to announce the first annual West Coast Sexuality, Gender and the Law Conference on March 22-23 in Los Angeles. Loyola Law School will serve as the conference host.

As political and legal attacks against LGBTQ people are once again on the rise, as are other legal and political efforts to shape and reassert normative views of gender and the family, this Conference seeks to bring together scholars exploring issues of sexuality, gender, and the law. The goal of the Conference is to provide attendees with detailed, constructive feedback on their work in a supportive, collegial environment, and to build community among scholars working on these issues (especially those on the West Coast). Scholars at all levels of seniority are encouraged. We also encourage submissions at different stages of progress, from early drafts (incubators) to more developed forms (a work-in-progress session).

The Conference will consist of approximately 4-5 panels over the course of one and a half days. Participants will be expected to attend all panels and to read and be prepared to discuss all assigned papers.

There is no conference or registration fee. Participants will be responsible for the costs of their own flight, other transportation, and hotel arrangements (we are working on reserving a block of hotel rooms for the conference). Breakfast, lunch, and refreshments will be provided at the conference.

To preserve an intimate and supportive character, we can accommodate only 45 participants, Although we will try to fulfill all requests, if space is limited, some preference will be given to West Coast-based scholars.

To apply, please submit an abstract of no more than 500 words, as well as a CV, here by December 15, 2023. Submissions will be vetted by the organizing committee (listed below). Selection will be based on the originality of the abstract as well as its capacity to engage with the other papers in a collaborative dialogue. In addition, priority will be given to scholars based on the West Coast.

Participants will be notified of their selection by the beginning of January 2024. Drafts of papers will be due approximately two weeks prior to the Conference.

We look forward to your submissions and participation. Questions can be directed to the organizing committee members at [email protected].

Thank you!
Courtney Cahill, UC Irvine School of Law
Courtney Joslin, UC Davis School of Law
Yvonne (Yvette) Lindgren, UC College of Law San Francisco (visiting)
Kaipo Matsumura, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles
Brian Soucek, UC Davis School of Law

Gender, Health and the Constitution Conference at the Center for Con Law at Akron

 

Con Law Conference Focuses on Gender, Health & the Constitution

The Center for Constitutional Law at The University of Akron School of Law held its annual conference on Oct. 13. This year’s theme was Gender, Health and the Constitution. The Center is one of four national resource centers established by Congress, along with Drake University, Howard University and the University of South Carolina, to support research and public education on issues of constitutional law. It includes five faculty fellows, student fellowships, a J.D. certificate program and an online journal, ConLawNOW.

“Speakers at this year’s conference all agreed on the need for attention to these issues of gender discrimination in the health care context,” said Akron Law Professor and Con Law Center Director Tracy Thomas. “The 20 featured panelists included national scholars and local practitioners in both law and medicine who provided a broad range of expertise from theoretical to practical implications.”

Those attending the conference included judges, attorneys, academics, students and members of the community interested in learning more about these emerging issues. Akron Law faculty Bernadette Bollas Genetin, Mike Gentithes, Dr. George Horvath and Brant Lee moderated the panels.

The first topic was reproductive rights and the profound legal and medical changes since the U.S. Supreme Court’s invalidation of the long-recognized fundamental right to reproductive choice. Maya Manian, director of the Health Law and Policy Program at American University, recommended a new theoretical approach grounded in health justice. Dr. Allison Kreiner, medical analyst with Plakas Mannos, revealed the stark detriment of the invalidation to patients in practice. Legal scholars Naomi Cahn from the University of Virginia, Tiffany Graham from Touro Law and Sonja Sutter from George Washington University discussed applications in the contexts of minors’ rights and assisted reproduction.

 The second panel turned to the topic of gender identity. Panelists spoke about recent bans on gender-affirming care, the history and meaning of gender identity, and new laws prohibiting transgender girls from participating in sports. Noted national legal scholars speaking on gender identity included Deborah Brake from the University of Pittsburgh, Noa Ben-Asher from St. John’s University, Jennifer Bard from the University of Cincinnati, Susan Keller from Western State University and Dara Purvis from Penn State University.

 The next panel discussion focused on bias in medical science and the ways in which medical science excludes women in research, resulting in significant negative physical effects. Panelists diagnosed existing problems and suggested preventive measures. These legal experts on medical science included former Akron Law Professor Jane Moriarty, now at Duquesne University; Jennifer Oliva from Indiana University; and Aziza Ahmed from Boston University. Dr. Rachel Bracken from Northeast Ohio Medical University also presented.

The final panel of the day focused on the broader meanings and implications of medical autonomy. Professor Thomas discussed Ohio’s unique health care freedom constitutional amendment and how it might apply to reproductive freedom. Abby Moncrieff, co-director of the Health Law Center at Cleveland State University, considered the theoretical neutrality bases of medical autonomy and how they applied to several of the emerging legal issues discussed at the conference, including gender-affirming care and reproductive rights. Attorneys Marie Curry from Legal Aid and Megan Franz Oldham ’05, partner at Plakas Mannos, discussed how these issues from daily medical practice. Oldham addressed how medical malpractice claims arise when physicians discount women patient’s reported symptoms. Curry shared information about racial impacts and discrimination in pregnancy care, and alternative patient-centered approaches to redress these concerns.

 Many papers presented at the conference will be published in the Spring symposium of ConLawNOW.

Conference on Gender, Health and the Constitution at The Center for Constitutional

A terrific program we have coming.  Register now at this link:  2023 Conference Registration

Conference The Jurisprudential Legacy of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Conference Announcement: The Jurisprudential Legacy of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Join us online or in-person on Sept. 22, 2023 for a discussion focusing on The Jurisprudential Legacy of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a new book examining Justice Ginsburg’s remarkable career, with a focus on the common themes and approaches underscoring her decisions across several subject matters. Contributing authors will discuss areas of the law in which Justice Ginsburg had an outsized interest or impact and which illustrate her long and celebrated judicial career.  More information, including speakers and topics, is available here.  The event is free, but registration is required.  Register here.

Speakers and Topics 

Deborah L. Brake, Gender and the Law

Melissa L. Breger, Criminal Procedure 

Elizabeth G. Porter and Heather Elliott, Civil Procedure 

Kirin Goff, Health Law 

Jill I. Gross, Arbitration 

Vinay Harpalani and Jeffrey D. Hoagland, Race and the Law

M. Isabel Medina, Citizenship and Immigration

Maria C. O’Brien, Employee Retirement Income Security Act 

W. Keith Robinson, Patent Law

JoAnne Sweeny, Freedom of Expression

Ryan Vacca, Copyright Law 

Mary Jo Wiggins, Bankruptcy

 

CFP AALS Feminism, The Development of Professional Identity, and Implementing ABA Standard 303(b)

The AALS Section on Women in Legal Education is pleased to announce a call for proposals for the 2024 Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. (January 3-6, 2024).

The ABA Council on Legal Education has recently promulgated the revised accreditation Standard 303(b), focusing on the development of professional identity. The Section on Women in Legal Education invites proposals that explore the revised Standard by examining the relationship between professional identity formation and feminism, especially those which take an intersectional perspective and engage with the manner in which Standards 303(b) and 303(c) are in conversation with each other.

We encourage proposals that cover a range of issues related to this topic, including but not limited to the following: (1) the manner in which such concerns are infused through doctrinal and experiential curricula; (2) efforts to map key pedagogical goals across the entire curriculum; (3) the training that faculties are receiving (or should be receiving) to improve student learning as it relates to gender equity and professional identity formation; (4) how institutional choices regarding curricular delivery and the potential for cross-institutional collaboration can have an impact on the effectiveness of student learning; (5) the challenges presented by the effort to shape students' professional identities in the midst of controversial political settings; and crucially, (6) how "values, guiding principles, and well-being practices" – as referenced in Interpretation 303-5 – shape this conversation, especially as they relate to the commitment of the profession to gender equity and equality. What is the toolkit that institutions need during this moment of change? The ultimate goal of the Standard is to prepare students as well as possible to meet the challenges of the current and future moments, and this panel will use the lens provided by feminist concerns to engage the possibilities for achieving that objective.

Full-time faculty members of AALS member and fee-paid law schools are eligible to submit proposals. Visiting faculty (not full-time on a different faculty) and fellows are also eligible to apply to present at this session.

Proposals should be no more than 500 words in length.

To be considered, proposals should be emailed to Professor Tiffany C. Graham at [email protected] no later than Friday, August 4, 2023. Selected presenters will be announced by Friday, September 8, 2023. The panelists who are chosen will be responsible for paying their own AALS registration fee, hotel, and travel expenses. For more information, please do not hesitate to contact Tiffany Graham at your convenience

CFP 2024 AALS Annual Meeting The Challenges of Teaching in a Time of Rising LGBTQ Hostility

Call for Proposals for 2024 AALS Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Issues Pedagogy Program:  "The Challenges of Teaching in a Time of Rising LGBTQ Hostility"

Over the past couple of years, states throughout the country have passed a series of increasingly extreme restrictions on LGBTQ people, from prohibiting gender-affirming care for transgender people to attempting to prohibit discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools. Institutions of higher education are also the subject of legislation claiming to eliminate critical race theory, queer theory, and other points of view demonized as "woke" or harmful.

Many AALS schools are located in states passing such laws, and professors at those schools are called upon to teach about issues relating to discrimination facing the LGBTQ community when that community is directly under attack. Professors may feel personally threatened or professionally threatened by limits on their academic freedom. The Section on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Issues of the Association of American Law Schools will hold a program on pedagogy, "The Challenges of Teaching in a Time of Rising LGBTQ Hostility," to provide space to discuss the challenges arising from these current political changes.

We welcome submissions from law faculty, staff, and administrators at all stages of their careers. Submissions of abstracts of not more than 500 words are due on or before Monday August 7, 2023, and should be sent to Michael Higdon at [email protected]. For more information, please do not hesitate to contact Michael Higdon

Virtual Summer Feminist Legal Theory Series

2023 VIRTUAL SUMMER FEMINIST LEGAL THEORY SERIES

Looking Back/Looking Forward: The Significance of Feminist Legal Theory

 

June 28, 2023 and August 2, 2023

 

Pre-registration (here) required

Zoom link to be provided 1 day prior to event

Overview

This summer, the U.S. Feminist Judgments Project is pleased to host the Summer Feminist Legal Theory Series on June 28, 2023 and August 2, 2023 from 2:00pm-3:45 Eastern/11am-12:45pm Pacific.

Attendees from all parts of the academy with a verified academic email address are welcome to attend with pre-registration. There is no charge to attend. All sessions are held via Zoom.

Session 1 – June 28, 2023, 2:00pm-3:45 Eastern/11am-12:45pm Pacific

Reflecting Back on 40 Years of the Feminism and Legal Theory (FLT) Project: Innovation and Assimilation

This workshop will consider the historic and contemporary significance of the Feminism and Legal Theory Project, launched at the University of Wisconsin in 1984.

Chair: Bridget J. Crawford (Pace)

Moderator: Martha Albertson Fineman (Emory)

Panelists: Samuel Burry (Oxford), Deborah Dinner (Cornell), Martha Albertson Fineman (Emory), Risa Lieberwitz (Cornell), Linda McClain (Boston University), Martha McCluskey (Buffalo), Laura Spitz (New Mexico)

Session 2 – August 2, 2023, 2:00pm-3:45 Eastern/11am-12:45pm Pacific

How Feminist Legal Theory Can Make a Difference 

In this second session we will look at the Feminist Judgments Project, considering its approach to integrating feminist theory into law by rewriting (and thus critiquing) judicial opinions to reflect feminist principles and methods in major areas of law. 

Chair: Kathryn M. Stanchi (UNLV)

Speakers TBD

Registration

 

Preregistration for all participants (speakers and attendees) is required via this link: https://pace.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYpce2trzojH9yR8jjH3Jjie9yJJxlb9Kow

Zoom log-in information will be sent one day prior to the event. An academic email address is required to pre-register. Anyone without an academic email address who wishes to be added should contact Bridget J. Crawford (Pace) to be added to the registration list: bcrawford at law dot pace dot edu. 

All attendees including speakers must register. Attendees need to register only once and then can attend either or both of the sessions in the summer series.

Sponsors

 

The Summer Feminist Legal Theory Series is co-sponsored by the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University and the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, together with The Feminism and Legal Theory Project, The Vulnerability and the Human Condition Initiative, the Institute for Feminist Legal Studies at Osgoode, the Family Law Center at the University of Virginia School of Law, and the AALS Section on Women in Legal Education. The series is coordinated by Bridget J. Crawford (Pace), bcrawford at law dot pace dot edu, and Kathy Stanchi (UNLV), kathryn dot stanchi at unlv dot edu.

CFP 2024 AALS Obstacles to Gender Equality in the Legal Academy

Call for Proposals for 2024 AALS WILE Main Program:    "Obstacles to Gender Equality in the Legal Academy"   Panel Description:     Despite the progress made in recent years, gender inequality remains a pervasive issue in the legal profession, particularly in academia. Women remain underrepresented in influential positions, and face systemic bias, discrimination, harassment, and other obstacles that limit their advancement and overall success. Law schools place a premium on statuses that have largely been defined by and through patriarchies. Visible and invisible status lines and distinctions are perpetuated by a legal academy that voices an often-empty commitment to equity.  We invite proposals for the 2024 AALS WILE Main Program, dedicated to exploring the obstacles that face a diversity of women in the legal academy. We welcome proposals that address, but are not limited to, the following themes:  The impact of implicit bias and gender stereotypes on hiring, promotion, and tenure decisions in law schools.   The impact on career advancement and earning potential (or "motherhood tax") for professional women due to parenting and/or caretaking responsibilities.   The role of institutional policies and practices in perpetuating inequality, such as implicit curricula, exclusionary practices, and lack of support for work-life balance.  The experiences of women of color, LGBTQ2S+ women, women with disabilities, and other marginalized groups in the legal academy.  The effect of gender disparities on teaching, research, and service activities.  The potential of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives to foster a more equitable academic environment.  The implications of gender inequality for legal education, scholarship, and the legal profession at large.  The ways in which laws attacking tenure and prohibiting DEI trainings/offices will perpetuate gender inequality.    We welcome submissions from law faculty, staff, and administrators at all stages of their careers. Submissions are due on or before Monday July 31, 2023, and should be sent to [email protected]. For more information, please do not hesitate to contact Victoria Haneman.

Conference at the Center for Constitutional Law: Gender, Health and the Constitution

Gender, Health & the Constitution: Constitutional Law Conference

The Center for Constitutional Law at Akron

Friday, October 13, 2023

The Center for Constitutional Law at Akron seeks proposals for its annual Constitutional Law Conference.  The Center is one of four national centers established by Congress in 1986 on the bicentennial of the Constitution for legal research and public education on constitutional law.  Past presenters at the Center have included Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Justice Arthur Goldberg, Judge Jeffrey Sutton, Professor Reva Siegel, Professor Lawrence Solum, Professor Maggie Blackhawk, Professor Katie Eyer, Professor Ernest Young, Professor Julie Suk, and Professor Paula Monopoli, among many others.

The 2023 Conference brings together scholars to explore the constitutional questions at the intersection of gender and health.  The daily news features issues of gender and health, whether related to Covid, abortion, transgender treatment, or maternal health.  Bodily autonomy and health rights raise questions about balancing against the interests of the state and third parties.  And individuals struggle to seek justice for their own lived reality.  

Committed speakers include: Aziza Ahmed (Boston U), Noa Ben-Asher (Pace), Jennifer Bard (Cincinnati), Rachel Bracken (NEOMed), Debbie Brake (Pitt), Ainslee Johnson-Brown (Akron), Naomi Cahn (Virginia), Marie Curry (Legal Aid), Bernadette Bollas Genetin (Akron), Susan Keller (Western), George Horvath (Akron), Dr. Allison Kreiner, M.D. (Plakas Manos), Maya Manian (American), Abby Moncrieff (Cleveland State), Jane Moriarty (Duquesne), Megan Frantz Oldham (Plakas Manos), Jennifer Oliva (Indiana), Christopher Peters (Akron), Dara Purvis (Penn State), Tracy Thomas (Akron)

This conference invites papers and presentations on any and all aspects related broadly to the theme.  Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Covid: mandates, illness, and gendered differences
• Abortion and reproductive justice
• Transgender school and medical treatment bans
• Maternal health, pregnancy, and surrogacy
• Medical malpractice, including gaslighting of women patients
• Exclusion of women and gendered treatment in medical research
• Barriers in access to healthcare
• Gendered aspects of aging
• Biology as a basis for sex discrimination
• Rights related to gender-affirming care
• Gendered implications of medical conscientious objections

The Conference will be held live, in person on Friday, October 13, 2023, at the University of Akron School of Law.  Presenters may also participate virtually to facilitate participation by all who are interested in joining.  Unfortunately, we are not able to pay for travel expenses, and hope that speakers can be reimbursed from their home institutions.

Papers will then be published in a Winter 2024 Symposium Edition of the Center for Constitutional Law’s open-access journal, ConLawNOW (also indexed in Westlaw, Lexis, and Hein).  Papers are typically shorter essays of 10,000 words.  Publication is expedited within four to six weeks of final paper submission.  The journal is designed to put issues of constitutional import into debate in a timely manner for an opportunity to impact discussion and decision.

Those interested in participating in the 2023 Constitutional Law Conference should send an abstract and CV to Professor Tracy Thomas, Director of the Center for Constitutional Law, at [email protected] by August 15, 2023.   

 

 

CFP AALS Teaching Reproductive Justice in a Post-Dobb World

The Section on Family & Juvenile Law is pleased to announce a Call for Participants for its pedagogy panel on Teaching Reproductive Justice in a Post-Dobbs World.  The program is co-sponsored by the Sections on Minority Groups, Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity, and Women in Legal Education.

The panel will be held during the AALS Annual Meeting in early January 2024 in Washington, DC. The goal of the session is to discuss and share our ideas about teaching reproductive justice, both in regards to the  Dobbs decision and related developments as well as how to create a separate course on reproductive justice.  The panel will show how family and juvenile law professors are integrating these teaching methods into their courses and the overall family and juvenile law curriculum. Presenters will be asked to share relevant materials in advance of the Annual Meeting.

 

If you are interested in participating, please send a 400-600 word description of what you'd like to discuss. Submissions should be sent to Naomi Cahn, [email protected] and Jeffrey Dodge, [email protected]. The due date for submissions is June 23, 2023.  We will notify the selected presenters by July 1, 2023. 

Reevaluating Regional Law Reform Strategies After Dobbs

I was so grateful for the chance to present at the University of Akron School of Law's Future of Reproductive Rights Symposium in October 2022. My publication, Reevaluating Regional Law Reform Strategies After Dobbs, is now published in Volume 14 of ConLawNow (2023). The abstract provides: 

This article studies the triad of 2016 social media campaigns known as “#AskDr.Kasich,” “#askbevinaboutmyvag,” and “#PeriodsforPence” to garner insights to inform the vital work of regional law reform in a post-Dobbs America. While these campaigns, each located in the regional mid-South, were motivated by restrictive state abortion bills, they uniquely positioned menstruation and women’s bodies at the center of their activism—not abortion alone. They leveraged, as a political fault line, the contradiction of these states’ governors’ perceived disgust relating to basic women’s reproductive health, relative to their patriarchal assuredness in regulating and controlling women’s bodies. In so doing, they tapped into meaningful disruptions in the geographies, religiosities, and masculinities of abortion politics. These campaigns achieved regional collective solidarity and a frame transformation in the rhetoric of abortion access. They catalyzed the lens of “disgust,” used manipulatively in anti-abortion rhetoric, into a source of poignant activism. Masculine discomfort with menstruation and women’s health paradoxically became a tool to protect abortion access.

 

 

 

CFP Gender, Health and the Constitution

Gender, Health & the Constitution

Constitutional Law Conference

The Center for Constitutional Law at Akron

Friday, October 13, 2023

The Center for Constitutional Law at Akron seeks proposals for its annual Constitutional Law Conference.  The Center is one of four national centers established by Congress in 1986 on the bicentennial of the Constitution for legal research and public education on constitutional law.  Past presenters at the Center have included Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Justice Arthur Goldberg, Judge Jeffrey Sutton, Professor Reva Siegel, Professor Lawrence Solum, Professor Maggie Blackhawk, Professor Katie Eyer, Professor Ernest Young, Professor Julie Suk, and Professor Paula Monopoli, among many others.

The 2023 Conference brings together scholars to explore the constitutional questions at the intersection of gender and health.  The daily news features issues of gender and health, whether related to Covid, abortion, transgender treatment, or maternal health.  Bodily autonomy and health rights raise questions about balancing against the interests of the state and third parties.  And individuals struggle to seek justice for their own lived reality.  This conference invites papers and presentations on any and all aspects related broadly to the theme.  Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Covid: mandates, illness, and gendered differences
• Abortion and reproductive justice
• Transgender school and medical treatment bans
• Maternal health, pregnancy, and surrogacy
• Medical malpractice, including gaslighting of women patients
• Exclusion of women and gendered treatment in medical research
• Barriers in access to healthcare
• Gendered aspects of aging
• Biology as a basis for sex discrimination
• Rights related to gender-affirming care
• Gendered implications of medical conscientious objections

The Conference will be held live, in person on Friday, October 13, 2023, at the University of Akron School of Law.  Presenters may also participate virtually to facilitate participation by all who are interested in joining.  Unfortunately, we are not able to pay for travel expenses, and hope that speakers can be reimbursed from their home institutions.

Papers will then be published in a Winter 2024 Symposium Edition of the Center for Constitutional Law’s open-access journal, ConLawNOW (also indexed in Westlaw, Lexis, and Hein).  Papers are typically shorter essays of 10,000 words.  Publication is expedited within four to six weeks of final paper submission.  The journal is designed to put issues of constitutional import into debate in a timely manner for an opportunity to impact discussion and decision.

Those interested in participating in the 2023 Constitutional Law Conference should send an abstract and CV to Professor Tracy Thomas, Director of the Center for Constitutional Law, at [email protected] by August 15, 2023.   

International Conference on Family Planning Session Recordings Available

The International Conference on Family Planning was held in Thailand in November 2022. Conference tracks included content related to universal health care coverage, gender equality, reproductive rights, quality of care, contraceptive technology, reproductive health among youth, reproductive health in humanitarian settings, and the impact of COVID-19 on reproductive health. 

Use this spreadsheet to search for sessions presenting research and advocacy that supports your work! 

Conference, Mainstreaming Reproductive Health

To celebrate the publication of Feminist Judgments: Health Law Rewritten, edited by Seema Mohapatra and Lindsay F. Wiley, UCLA School of Law hosted an in-person conference on “Mainstreaming Reproductive Health in Health Law, Policy and Ethics” on February 10, 2023.

This national conference brought together health law, food and drug law, employee benefits, health information privacy, bioethics, and medical experts from across the country to share insights on how and why government and institutional leaders have traditionally siloed off reproductive and sexual health from other health care needs. We focused on the implications of this exceptionalism for efforts to secure access to reproductive and sexual health care in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade. We identified strategies for mainstreaming reproductive and sexual health within efforts aimed at securing equity, patient safety, and patient autonomy in health care financing and delivery.

This event was co-sponsored by UCLA Law’s Center on Reproductive Health, Law, and Policy, UCLA Law’s Health Law and Policy Program, and SMU Dedman School of Law's Tsai Center for Law, Science and Innovation.

If you were unable to join the event in person, you may view the panel recordings here. 

Conference on Health, Equity, and Law after Dobbs

American University Washington College of Law's Health Law and Policy Program has opened registration for an inter-disciplinary conference on "Health, Equity, and Law after Dobbs" scheduled for February 24th and 25th in Washington, D.C. The event will take a distinctly inter-disciplinary approach bringing together scholars with legal, medical, public health, and sociological perspectives on the aftermath of the Dobbs decision. The conference also brings together four academic programs collaboratively planning the event: American University Washington College of Law, American University Department of Sociology, The George Washington Law School, and The George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. The event is also hosted in partnership with the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics. The conference goals are described here:  

By assembling an interdisciplinary group of researchers, practitioners, and advocates, the conference will provide a fuller picture of both the impact of the law on the books and the realities of the law on the ground. The goal of the conference is to help scholars, practitioners, advocates, and students understand current policy and practice related to abortion, as well as the reverberating effects of the Dobbs decision on the delivery of health care and society more broadly. It also aims to develop a research agenda and a broader strategic focus for advancing more equitable access to reproductive health care in the long term.

Register for the free event here. Check out the agenda for the program here. 

Conference Jan. 27, The Age of Roe: The Past, Present, and Future of Abortion in America

Harvard Radcliffe Institute, The Age of Roe: The Past, Present, and Future of Abortion in America

Harvard Radcliffe Institute will hold a major public conference January 26–27, 2023, to probe the complex and unpredictable ways that Roe v. Wade and its aftermath shaped the United States and the world beyond it for nearly half a century. The existential issue of abortion—and the galvanizing impact of Roe in particular—transformed the nation’s politics and public policy and its social movement energies, as well as the operations of the courtroom and the clinic. 

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, eminent thinkers will gather as a diverse group, along many axes of difference, neither to praise Roe nor to bury it. Focusing on five major themes—voices from the front lines, international contexts, race and class, American public life, and visions of the future—a broad array of scholars, clinicians, and activists will engage in searching, interdisciplinary discussions to anatomize Roe’s impacts, including in the post-Dobbs landscape.

Conference and CFP, Equal Justice Under Law?

American University, Annual Symposium, Equal Justice Under Law

CFP Deadline Jan. 3, 2023

2023 Annual Symposium: Equal Justice Under Law?

On February 3, 2023, the American University Law Review's 2023 Annual Symposium—Equal Justice Under Law?—will explore what is left of the Constitution after the 2021-2022 U.S. Supreme Court term. The Law Review is thrilled to announce that Dean Erwin Chemerinsky will be this year's Keynote Speaker. Dean Chemerinsky is a distinguished scholar and has authored fourteen books, including leading casebooks and treatises about constitutional law, criminal procedure, and federal jurisdiction. Additionally, the Law Review will host multiple Supreme Court practitioners as panelists this year to weigh in on the Court's recent term and the questions it raises moving forward.

Call for Papers: American University Law Review’s 2023 Annual Symposium

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The American University Law Review is placing a call for submissions of original legal articles and scholarly commentaries for its forthcoming Annual Symposium issue, this year dedicated to a review and response to the 2021 through 2022 Supreme Court term and the upcoming term. Specifically, the Law Review seeks submissions analyzing the rapidly evolving response to the Supreme Court’s decisions in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, Carson v. Makin, Shurtleff v. City of Boston, and pending cases before the Supreme Court in the next term on affirmative action, the Indian Child Welfare Act, and free speech. Approximately four to six submissions will be selected, with a publication date slated for the spring of 2023.