March 2013
NEWS & NOTES LSRJ color          
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From the Executive Director
Dear LSRJ community,

It has been a busy spring in LSRJ-land! Our chapters have been hard at work introducing the RJ framework to their campuses and communities, combating commonly held misconceptions, and, yes, running into some road blocks along the way. But in true LSRJ fashion, they have risen above and utilized some creative problem-solving skills to ensure that reproductive rights and justice issues are not swept under the rug at their respective schools. Our members are doing this work in tremendously hostile states, and we are thrilled to support them with materials and guidance. We're proud to welcome students from Brigham Young University Law School into the LSRJ family. Despite knowing they will not get funding as an official student organization, BYU LSRJ partnered with the BYU National Lawyers Guild to present a panel on maternal mortality to over 100 law students and professors! And at St. Louis University School of Law, chapter leaders learned of a speaker being brought to campus by the SLU Federalist Society to discuss the alleged "over-reporting" of rape. To shift the narrative and raise the issue of rape and sexual assault in a responsible and empathetic way, SLU LSRJ hosted a successful screening of "The Invisible War" the day after the Federalist Society event. And to illustrate the breadth of reproductive justice, leaders at one of our newer chapters, the University of Oklahoma College of Law, welcomed the Executive Director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, Lynn Paltrow, to campus before the Take Root conference to discuss the legal implications of treatment of incarcerated pregnant people. 

Much love to our organizers in Utah, Missouri, and Oklahoma, as well as the nearly 35 additional states where we're working every day with fierce and passionate law students and new lawyers - and a huge thank you to the countless allied organizations who partner with our chapters as speakers, collaborators, and mentors!
 
In strength and solidarity,
 
Sabrina M. Andrus, JD 
The 2013 LSRJ national tour was a smashing success - 
regional conferences in Chicago, Seattle, Washington, D.C., 
New Orleans, and Boston!
Over the course of six weeks and five regional conferences, LSRJ was able to share in reproductive rights and justice packed days with nearly 300 LSRJ members, alumni, and allies. The regional conferences offer our members a chance to network with one another, meet their reproductive rights and justice icons, introduce the RJ framework to other graduate student allies, and learn about cutting-edge reproductive rights and justice issues.  
 
Rockstar conference organizers from University of Washington!
The 2013 regional conferences kicked off in Chicago, Illinois where attendees at the Midwest regional conference felt "engaged and engrossed with all the discussion and panels - stretching of some stereotypes and thinking outside of my normal box." At the West regional conference, LSRJ members, allies, and friends experienced thought-provoking presentations including Tracy Weitz from CoreAlign who challenges advocates to look at the future of the reproductive justice movement. One LSRJ member commented "thank you for bringing together these wonderful individuals at the forefront of a necessary and meaningful movement in order to educate, discuss, and continue to evolve our trajectory." 
 
Next up was the Mid-Atlantic regional conference and a powerful keynote speech by Dr. Carhart as well as panels ranging from RJ and the Supreme Court to the long term plan to ensure access to affordable abortion care.  
 
At the South regional conference, the national office presented the Tulane LSRJ chapter with the 2012-2013 Cari Sietstra Organizing Award, named for our visionary founder and awarded to a chapter that demonstrates excellence in on-campus organizing. From holding interesting and engaging events on campus to working alongside the New Orleans Abortion Fund and creating a judicial bypass project in New Orleans, the Tulane LSRJ chapter is focused not only on student awareness of RJ, but on becoming a part of the RJ community in their city. They have overcome challenges working with their administration thanks to the support of their faculty advisors and are motivated to work in the South, where RJ advocates are desperately needed.
Tulane LSRJ chapter accepts the 2012-13 Cari Sietstra Organizing Award
Last but not least, the Northeast regional conference at Harvard Law School was "inspiring and awesome." The attendees, including a big number of public health and med students, loved keynote speaker, Marlene Gerber Fried, saying "I want to grow up to be Marlene."
 
LSRJ could not have pulled this whirlwind tour off without the dedicated and hardwork of the LSRJ host-chapters! Thanks to the LSRJ chapters at DePaul University College of the Law, University of Washington William Gates School of Law, American University Washington College of the Law, Tulane University Law School, and Harvard Law School.
Reproductive Justice Fellowship Program 
Announcing the 2013-14 RJ Fellows & Placement Organizations
 
We proudly announce the participants in the fourth year of this ground-breaking, change-making, one-of-a-kind fellowship program! Once again, this year's selection process saw an extraordinarily high caliber of fellow applicants and amazing organizations.
 
Congratulations to the following individuals and organizations:

 

       Jamille  Lillian 

      AgataLauren

 

For more information about the 2013-14 RJ Fellows, please see their biosThe 2013-14 fellowship term begins in August 2013. 

 

In addition to the six new Fellows, three current RJ Fellows will be staying on at their organizations for a second year as part of the Matching Stipend Program:

 


Foster the Future!

Each year, we educate hundreds of soon-to-be lawyers, judges, advocates, and policymakers understand the importance of using an RJ framework no matter where their career takes them. Help us reach even more law students and new lawyers by making a donation to LSRJ today.

Check out our Blog!

We have four Resident Bloggers this school year, sharing their insights 
and opinions on current RJ events 
and campus activism. 

Read our latest post byJosie Sustaire ('14,University of Oregon School of Law) - "Finding balance  as a mom and a professional.  It's personal!
Featured Alumna - Rose Murray
This month, LSRJ would like to recognize Rose Murray for her continued commitment to LSRJ and the reproductive rights and justice movement. 

 

Rose graduated from Tulane Law School in 2012 and got involved with the newly established LSRJ chapter at Tulane her final year of law school during a time when major policy issues for women were at stake with the election, particularly women's access to health care under the Affordable Care Act. Rose says that "LSRJ put me in touch with local advocates and helped me learn more about the legal barriers to female access to health services in Louisiana and elsewhere. I learned about the policy decisions making access to care more and more remote for many women, and what I can do about it.

 

After Rose graduated from Tulane she joined a firm and practices environmental and commercial litigation. She continues to be involved with reproductive rights and justice advocacy by volunteering her time for pro bono projects with the Tulane LSRJ chapter and other local organizations, collaborating on a blog to elevate the female voice in opinion pieces, attending RJ conferences for CLE credit (like the LSRJ South Regional Conference!), celebrating women at more artistic events (in New Orleans, advocates turn struggle into celebration!), and chairing the American Bar Association SubCommittee for Reproductive Rights. She is currently on a judicial bypass committee with local attorneys, judges, and law students, and will eventually serve with a group of other attorneys willing to be the court-appointed representative for minors seeking abortions. 

 

Her own personal experiences, those of her friends and clients, as well as her work abroad with organizations like the Women's Legal Aid Center in Tanzania which provides access to much-needed legal and domestic violence services has helped shape her as a reproductive rights and justice advocate.  She has "learned that working with women's rights activists here and around the world is that women's healthcare is a perilous second-class system.  Only complete equality is good enough."  

 

Rose is a wonderful reminder that lawyers can work for reproductive justice in a host of ways. We thank you for your dedication and passion!

 

Has LSRJ helped shape your current career as a reproductive justice advocate?  Let us know so we can feature you in the next LSRJ newsletter! 

Featured Chapter - Michigan State University College of Law
MSUCOL at the Midwest Regional Conference

This month LSRJ would like to recognize the hard work and dedication of the Michigan State University College of Law (MSUCOL) LSRJ chapter, led by Rachel Gruetzer.  She leads the MSUCOL chapter with a simple mantra "Every day is an opportunity to promote RJ and educate!  Seize it."    

 

The MSUCOL has been hard at work this year to bring the reproductive justice voice to their campus by identifying the needs of their law school community. So much so, that LSRJ had to pick which events to highlight because there were too many to include - so impressive MSUCOL. They started their fall semester with an RJ 101 presentation that drew a huge crowd and helped to increase their membership two-fold! They followed this up with a "Know Before You Vote" report in collaboration with the Modern Abolitionist Legal Society and the Women's Law Caucus. The MSUCOL LSRJ chapter wanted to do this event because many of their classmates were from out-of-state but registered to vote in Michigan; this event ensured that every busy law student had access to one quick and easy resource to expose them to the candidates' views in a digestible way. The report was completely bipartisan and cited information directly from the candidates themselves and gave links for students to find the information on their own. 

 

The spring semester was all about a desire to educate and engage their campus - from the "equal pay" bake sale that advertised baked goods "Women 75 cents; Men $1" to reflect the pay-gap between genders, to an event discussing abortion access in the US and abroad that attracted international students and allowed attendees to get a lot of personal and international perspective. Rachel says that she "absolutely love[s] teaching people about reproductive justice - what the movement is, why it is important, and dispelling the myths," like posting flyers around campus during Trust Women Week that said "1 in 3 women will have an abortion," which opened up dialogue among her classmates. She hopes that these types of conversations will combat Michigan legislators who have "focused their efforts on shaming women, punishing abortion providers, and presenting abortion providers as evil mongers of society." Due to the hard work of Rachel and the rest of the MSUCOL LSRJ chapter, they hope to launch a RJ reading group next year to discuss RJ issues and will test the waters for a potential future RJ seminar. 

 

The MSUCOL LSRJ has been consistently growing and Rachel says she "cannot thank my executive board enough for their hard work and dedication this year and proud to say that in this past semester several 1L students step[ped] up to take leadership roles. LSRJ has been an invaluable part of my law school experience." Kudos Rachel for ensuring the longevity of the MSUCOL LSRJ chapter!

LSRJ Leadership
Board of Directors

Erika Willis
President
Agata Pelka 
Vice President
Mishan Wroe
Secretary
Brigitte Amiri, JD
Treasurer
Erin Armstrong, JD
President Emerita
Sabrina Andrus, JD
Aimee Arrambide
Joanne Caceres
Lillian Hewko, JD
Abbey Marr
Janine Shisler, JD
Cynthia Soohoo, JD
 
Advisory Board

Jill Adams
Jessica Arons
Lois Backus
Maggie Crosby
Walter Dellinger
Caroline Fredrickson
Andrea Friedman
Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas
Marcia Greenberger
Angela Hooten
Priscilla Huang
Sujatha Jesudason
Nancy Keenan
Louise Melling
Jill Morrison
Debra Ness
Nancy Northrup
Lynn Paltrow
Kim Parker
Vicki Saporta
Reva Siegel
Cari Sietstra
Tracy Weitz
Miriam Yeung
Academic Advisory Council

Jack Balkin

Caitlin Borgmann

Kim Buchanan

Cary Franklin

Nancy Ehrenreich

Jesse Hill

Lisa Ikemoto

Dawn Johnsen

Pam Karlan

Kristin Luker

Alice Miller

Kim Mutcherson

Nina Pillard

Dorothy Roberts

Mindy Roseman

Neil Siegel

Reva Siegel 

 

 

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