Media Advisory: Reproductive Justice Hearing at National Press Club
Locked Out and Silenced: A Call to Reclaim Women’s Reproductive and Healthcare Rights
IRVINE, Calif. — The Reproductive Justice Hearing, sponsored by the Center for Biotechnology & Global Health Policy at University of California, Irvine School of Law, will be held on Friday, November 6, 2015, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The hearing will be livestreamed from 9:00 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. ET, and a link will be available at www.law.uci.edu.
Expert panels, including an opening address by UCI Law’s Chancellor’s Professor of Law Michele Goodwin, will cover issues such as violations of women’s reproductive privacy, women’s mass incarceration (and their health behind bars), access to reproductive health services, domestic violence, online sexual harassment, and the religious objections to medical services.
WHAT: This hearing shines a bright light on the status of women’s reproductive and healthcare access. In recent years, more anti-reproductive rights legislation has been proposed than in the 30 years combined following the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling Roe v. Wade. At the same time, maternal and infant mortality in the United States rivals that of many developing countries and is the worst among nearly all developed nations. From limitations on contraception to threats of arrest for refusing Caesarean sections and prosecutions for miscarriages, a severe hostility is being shown toward women and their health.
The Center for Biotechnology & Global Health Policy, highlighted in this short video, serves as a reference point for research, policy development and advocacy concerning science, biotechnology, bioethics and healthcare in the United States and abroad. The CBGHP engages multiple stakeholder communities: scholars, policy makers, civil society, healthcare providers, the judiciary and the general public, highlighting the collaborative role and function of law in responding to state, federal and international healthcare concerns.
WHERE: National Press Club, 529 14th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.
WHEN: Friday, November 6, 2015, 9:00 a.m.–4:15 p.m. ET
Hearing Schedule
9:15 a.m. Contraception & Abortion
Lynn Paltrow, Executive Director, National Advocates for Pregnant Women
Serra Sippel, President, Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE)
Dr. Carolyn Sufrin, American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
Professor Priscilla Smith, Director, Program for the Study of Reproductive Justice, Yale Law School
Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas, Executive Director, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health
10:25 a.m. Religion, Conscience Objections, & Hospital Mergers
Louise Melling, Deputy Legal Director and Director of Center for Liberty, ACLU
Gregory Lipper, Senior Litigation Counsel, Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Frances Kissling, President, Center for Health, Ethics & Social Policy
Professor Michele Goodwin, Chancellor’s Professor of Law & Director, Center for Biotechnology & Global Health Policy, UCI Law
11:30 a.m. Criminal Punishment & Civil Regulation of Pregnant Women
Amy Fettig, Senior Staff Counsel, American Civil Liberties Union National Prison Project
Soffiyah Elijah, President, Correctional Association of New York
Farah Diaz-Tello, Senior Staff Attorney, National Advocates for Pregnant Women
Professor Priscilla Ocen, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles
Rebecca Haimowitz, documentary filmmaker, “The Pregnancy Exclusion”
1:50 p.m. Poverty & Politics: Undue Burdens on Girls and Women’s Healthcare Access
Linda Goler Blount, President & CEO, Black Women’s Health Imperative
Krista Hollinger, Chief Administrative Officer, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, University of California, Irvine
Michele E. Gilman, Venable Professor of Law, Co-Director, Center for Applied Feminism, University of Baltimore
Carol McDonald, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Karen Hanrahan, Chief Program Officer, Center for Reproductive Rights
3:00 p.m. Violence Against Women: Domestic Violence, Gun Control, & Online Harassment
Professor Sarah Buel, Founding Faculty Director and Senior Advisor of the Diane Halle Center for Family Justice, Arizona State University
Sue Ellen Allen, Co-Founder & Executive Director, GINA’s Team
Sarah Kimball, MD, National Physicians Alliance
4.00 p.m. Closing Remarks
MEDIA CONTACT: Media planning to attend the event should contact Michele Goodwin, mgoodwin@law.uci.edu or 949-824-3897.
ABOUT THE REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE INITIATIVE
The Reproductive Justice Initiative (RJI), part of the Center for Biotechnology & Global Health Police at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, aims to engage in the cross-disciplinary study of urgent legal and human rights issues affecting the lives of women and children around the globe, focusing on four key capacity-building areas: security and safety; health and human rights; incarceration; and education. The RJI serves as a center of excellence and specialization on those vital areas of concern. Click here for more about the initiative.
ABOUT UC IRVINE SCHOOL OF LAW
UCI Law is a visionary law school focused on training talented and passionate lawyers and driven by professional excellence, intellectual rigor, and a commitment to enrich our communities through public service. UCI Law is a collegial environment, and our faculty comprises accomplished, nationally ranked thought leaders from around the country with a broad range of expertise. More about the Law School is available at law.uci.edu.