Reproductive Justice NOW!
It is no secret that reproductive rights and access to reproductive health care are in serious peril. The Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, the decision that legalizes abortion at the federal level. If it does, the legality of abortion will be determined by individual U.S. states, twenty-six of which are certain or likely to ban abortion. We know who will bear the brunt of these bans: poor women, women of color, and women in rural areas. Some states—such as Missouri—are currently attempting to pass laws that will restrict out-of-state travel for abortions and that will make shipping or receiving abortion medication a felony drug trafficking offense.
What can we do to push back on these reproductive injustices and move toward reproductive justice NOW?!
This is the question the 2022 Gensler Family Symposium will address. Considering the contemporary assault on abortion rights and access, the Symposium will focus specifically on abortion justice. Speakers will address: the history of the reproductive justice movement; contemporary reproductive concerns beyond the legal right to abortion (such as crisis pregnancy centers and how they raise data privacy concerns); the possibilities of medication abortion for circumventing state laws; reproductive technologies; and how the insights we can gain from the history of Californians traveling to Mexico for abortions pre-Roe can help us to prepare for the “abortion tourism” of the near future.
We hope you will join us!
Monday, April 18 – Sunday April 24, Davis Library Atrium
Photo exhibition: “Focus on Abortion: Americans Share Their Stories”
Monday, April 18, 12:15 p.m.: Conversation with Photographer Roslyn Banish, Library 140
Roslyn Banish collected stories from a diverse range of people who have experienced abortion or been close to someone who experienced abortion. With this photography exhibit, Banish aims to mitigate the profound stigma surrounding abortion—a procedure one in four women in the U.S. will obtain.
Recording for the event here:
Thursday, April 21, 5-6:30 p.m.: Robert A. Jones Conference Room or on Zoom:
Virtual Keynote Conversation between Loretta J. Ross and Carrie N. Baker facilitated by Dr. Carly Thomsen (GSFS). “Abortion and Childbirth in a Post-Roe World:” by Carrie N. Baker and “Beyond Abortion: Reproductive Futurism:” by Loretta J. Ross.
Register for the event here: https://middlebury.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0pceqorz0sE9IKq9ylawO5lDJS3XgTSWgm
Read more about these events on their individual blog posts.
Sponsored by the Gensler Family Fund, the Program in Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies, and the Feminist Resource Center at Chellis House