Reproductive Rights Prof Blog

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 [email protected] 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. . . .

_____________________________________________________

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!

Eighth Annual Wells Conference on Adoption Law: Call for Presentations and Papers

Capital University Law Review: Call for Presentations and Papers Eighth Annual Wells Conference on Adoption Law:

Eighth Annual Wells Conference on Adoption Law 
March 8, 2012
Searching for Family: The Impact of Technology and Social Media on Adoption

Send proposals by Nov. 23, 2011, to Capital University Law Review Symposium Editor Christine Diedrick Mochel at [email protected].

The conference is still accepting proposals for presentations and papers emphasizing the following themes:

Facilitating Adoptions through the Internet
Suggested topics include, but are not limited to: using the internet to facilitate adoptions, the legal barriers to using the internet to facilitate adoptions, and the ethical implications of using the internet to facilitate adoptions.

Continue reading

Most Law Schools Still Don't Offer Reproductive Rights Courses

XXfactor (Slate Magazine): Why Don't More Law Schools Teach Reproductive Rights Classes?, by Alexandra Harwin:

Most of the politicians and judges responsible for abortion policies in this country are trained as lawyers – among the chief proponents of Mississippi’s infamous personhood amendment is a local business lawyer. However, a new survey shows that most law schools aren’t doing enough to educate future policymakers about reproductive rights issues. . . .

H/T: Robyn Enes Link

Another Sperm Donor Learns of His Numerous Offspring

ABA Journal: Lawyer Learns He Has at Least 75 Children, by Debra Cassens Weiss:

Boston lawyer Ben Seisler picked up extra money while attending law school at George Mason University by donating to a Virginia sperm bank.

Seisler earned $150 per donation, the Boston Globe reports. He apparently visited the sperm bank often. . . .

h/t: Lianne Hansen

See also NBCWashington.com: Former Fairfax Sperm Donor Learns of 70 Kids, and this earlier post on a different prolific sperm donor: Ethical Questions Raised Over Single Sperm Donor's Copious Offspring

Jennifer Hendricks et al. on Strategies for Teaching Reproductive Rights and Other "Controversial Topics"

Jennifer S. Hendricks, et al., have posted Teaching Controversial Topics on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

This essay, based on a presentation at the 2009 Future of Family Law Education conference at the William Mitchell School of Law, discusses strategies for teaching controversial topics, focused on reproductive rights and related gender issues.

NAWL Student Writing Competition: Entries Due May 1, 2011

National Association of Women Lawyers Student Writing Contest:

Opportunities for Law Students:
 
Currently, the National Association of Women Lawyers is soliciting entries for the Fifth Annual Selma Moidel Smith Law Student Writing Competition.  The competition carries a $500 prize for the first place essay and the opportunity for the winning essay to be published in the summer edition of the Women Lawyers Journal, our quarterly publication sent to thousands of NAWL members and subscribers nationwide. 

The guidelines can be obtained from Professor Jennifer Martin, St. Thomas University School of law at [email protected].

Entries must be received by May 1, 2011.

Congressional Briefing on Women’s Human Rights in Africa: Monday, March 28, 2011

Georgetown Law’s Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa (LAWA) Fellowship Program in cooperation with Congresswomen Louise Slaughter invite you to a Congressional Briefing addressing Women’s Human Rights in Africa:

Speakers

Makda Tessema (Ethiopia)

What Next?  The Practice of Female Genital Mutilation in Ethiopia:  

Legal Boundaries and Cultural Norms

 

Zaamu Kaboneke (Uganda)

Climate Change and Women’s Human Rights in Uganda

 

Rachel Muthoga (Kenya)

2007-2008 Post-Election Violence: 

The Failure of the Kenyan Legal System to Protect Women

from Sexual and Gender Based Violence

 

Gladys Mbuya (Cameroon)

A Woman’s Right to Decide If, When and Whom to Marry in Cameroon

 

Sarah Nambasa (Uganda)

Maternal and Reproductive Health Rights of Evicted Batwa Women in Uganda

 

Selamawit Tesfaye (Ethiopia)

The Plight of Ethiopian Domestic Workers in the Middle East

 

Moderator 

Julia L. Ernst

Executive Director, Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa (LAWA) Program

Georgetown University Law Center

 

Monday, March 28, 2011

10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Room 121 Cannon House Office Building

Washington, D.C.

 

Please RSVP by Thursday, March 24 with your name, title, affiliation, and contact information to [email protected]

 

The Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa (LAWA) Fellowship Program trains lawyers from Africa who are committed to advancing women’s human rights in their countries.  The LAWA Fellows earn a Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree focusing on international women’s human rights from the Georgetown University Law Center and participate in additional professional development programming.  The LAWA Program has trained over 70 LAWA Fellows from Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.  LAWA alumnae now serve as judges, parliamentarians, law professors, founders and directors of non-profit organizations, public interest lawyers, and other influential positions, where they continue to advance women’s human rights throughout Africa. 

Call for Submissions: Sarah Weddington Writing Prize

Law Students for Reproductive Justice and Center for Reproductive Rights:

Law Students for Reproductive Justice (LSRJ) and the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) Law School Initiative are now accepting submissions for the sixth annual Sarah Weddington Writing Prize. The theme this year is “Beyond the Books: Realizing Reproductive Rights in Real Lives.”
 
LSRJ & CRR are seeking fresh student scholarship that focuses on a particular community’s unique struggle for reproductive justice. Examples of communities disproportionately affected by reproductive oppression include ethnic, religious, or cultural minorities; people of color; women  in developing or war-torn countries; adolescents; low-income women; survivors of domestic violence; prisoners; LGBTQ individuals; and undocumented immigrants. Example topics include:  legal and non-legal barriers to health care access (e.g., impact of the Hyde and Helms Amendments on poor women in the U.S. and abroad); surviving pregnancy and childbirth (e.g., racial disparities in maternal and infant mortality); denial of reproductive healthcare services on the basis of conscience (e.g., repercussions in rural communities with only one hospital or pharmacy); cruel, unusual, or degrading treatment  in reproductive healthcare delivery (e.g., shackling of incarcerated women during pregnancy, labor, and delivery); reproductive health effects of exposure to pollution and toxins (e.g., farm/factory workers and residents of low-income neighborhoods); and the intersection of HIV/AIDS and intimate partner violence (e.g., barriers to justice for communities with problematic relationships to governmental authorities).
 
We encourage writing that amplifies lesser heard voices, applies an intersectional, reproductive justice lens to legal thinking, offers anti-essentialist analysis, and/or suggests innovative solutions that take into account the practical realities and the lived experiences of the people affected by various forms of subordination and reproductive oppression.
 
Papers may be domestic or international in scope and may draw on human rights treaties, international legal norms, comparative law, U.S. constitutional case law, and/or statutory law and regulation. Authors are asked to apply a reproductive justice lens and/or human rights framework to their analyses of the issues. To learn more about:

Reproductive Justice (RJ):
o    What is Reproductive Justice?: www.lsrj.org/documents/What_is_RJ.pdf
o    Links to publications about RJ: www.lsrj.org/motivation

Reproductive Rights as Human Rights:
o    Human Rights Law Primer: www.lsrj.org/resources/#humanrightslawprimer
o    CRR publication: Repro Rights are Human Rights: http://reproductiverights.org/sites/crr.civicactions.net/files/documents/RRareHR_final.pdf

Previous winning submissions: www.lsrj.org/awards/#writingprize
 
Papers must be at least 20 pages in length (not including footnotes), double-spaced in 12-point font with footnotes in 10-point font. Papers must conform to Bluebook citation format. Only original scholarship by law students or law graduates of 2010 will be accepted. Papers submitted for publication elsewhere will be accepted; however papers previously published will not be accepted. Winners will be selected by an outside panel of legal academic judges.  Send your submission (in Word format as an email attachment) to [email protected] by 5:00pm PST on Tuesday, March 1, 2011.
 
The 1st place winning submission will be published in the NYU 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.

LSRJ Survey Shows Few Law Schools Offer Reproductive Rights Courses

LSRJ Announces Results of First National Reproductive Rights Law & Justice Course Survey:

Only 18% of U.S. Law Schools Have Offered Reproductive Rights Law Courses

In a recently released study, Law Students for Reproductive Justice (LSRJ) has found that fewer than one-fifth of ABA-approved law schools offered a reproductive rights law & justice course over the last seven years.  Among the 32 schools—located in 17 different states—that have offered their students a formal opportunity to study reproductive rights law as part of their legal training, there were 37 separate courses and instructor-led reading groups that have been taught at least once.  More than one-third of known classes have resulted from advocacy by LSRJ chapters.

For the Course Survey, click here.

See also: RH Reality Check: Defending Your Rights? Study Finds Few Law Schools Offer Training in Reproductive Justice, by Liz Kukura:

Advocates working in the reproductive rights, health, and justice movements know that training is important.  Whatever medium, forum, or discipline we work in, we know there are important skills and lessons to be learned, enabling us to do our work more thoughtfully and effectively.  Sometimes we face challenges obtaining the training and mentorship we need and, as in the case of abortion training in residency programs, advocates must work to create or improve access to skill-building opportunities.  In other contexts we may not even realize where the gaps in training are until we are challenged to step back and assess the landscape from a broader perspective.  Law Students for Reproductive Justice (LSRJ) is committed to making sure that law students understand those gaps while in law school and that they ultimately secure the tools necessary to fill them. . . .

Conference on Surrogacy: November 5th at Rutgers School of Law-Camden

Conference Announcement:

Making Sense of Surrogacy

Rutgers School of Law-Camden

 

Please join us on Friday, November 5 from 9:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. for an inter-disciplinary conference on surrogacy

 

8:30 a.m.  Continental Breakfast

 

9:00 a.m.  Welcome

 

9:15-10:45 a.m. - Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Surrogacy Arrangements

Dr. Margaret Marsh, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences & the Graduate School at Rutgers Camden

 

Dr. Elly Teman, Research Fellow, Penn Center for the Integration of Genetic Healthcare Technologies, University of Pennsylvania

 

Dr. Susan Markens, Assistant Professor, City University of New York, Lehman College

 

Professor Kimberly Mutcherson, Associate Professor of Law, Rutgers School of Law-Camden

 

11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. - Surrogacy Law and Ethics

William Singer, Esq. of Singer & Fedun, LLC

 

Robin A. Fleischner, Esq.

 

Tiffany Palmer, Esq. of Jerner & Palmer, P.C.

 

Donald C. Cofsky, Esq. of Cofsky & Zeidman, LLC

 

The conference will take place at Rutgers School of Law-Camden in rm. E-108.  The law school is located at 217 n.5^th Street, Camden, New Jersey and is easily accessible by public transportation.

 

Lunch will be available for all attendees immediately following the conference. 

 

There is no charge for attending, but please rsvp to [email protected] if you plan to attend the lunch.

 

Application pending for New Jersey CLE credit.

 

Co-sponsored by:

Family Law Society

Rutgers Journal of Law and Public Policy

Women’s Law Caucus

Law Students for Reproductive Justice (Rutgers School of Law – Camden chapter)

Thanks To My Summer Research Assistants!

Now that Labor Day has come and gone, it's time to say THANKS to my fabulous research assistants, CUNY Law students AMY HAGER ('11) and JENN FEELEY ('12), for their work this summer researching issues for this blog.

Call for Submissions: Wisconsin Journal of Law, Gender & Society's 2011 Symposium

The Wisconsin Journal of Law, Gender & Society Announces our 2011 Symposium: Gender, Justice, & Victim Rights: A Gendered Perspective of Victims in the Criminal Justice System
 
February 25, 2011
University of Wisconsin Law School
Madison, Wisconsin
 
We are seeking original scholarship, from both scholars and practitioners, that addresses the intersections of law and gender in the role and treatment of victims in the criminal justice system. Interested parties should send an abstract to [email protected] by October 31, 2010.  Those selected for the Symposium will be notified by December 2010.  The Journal’s Symposium issue will be published in Winter 2011.

Questions may be addressed to Symposium Editor Erin Welsh at [email protected].