I attended today’s LSOC Caucus, and I must say I was impressed by the quality of the comments that came from the participants, as well as the quality of the leadership provided by LSRJ Intern Jeryl Hayes.  It all started with an e-mail invitation to attend the Caucus during our lunch hour on Saturday.  When I got there, I instantly felt that familiar feeling of comfort when all of a sudden, I was no longer the only brown person in the immediate vicinity.  To my left and to my right, behind me and in front of me, I saw a diverse group of advocates who had one definite thing in common: our passion for reproductive justice.

It was a beautiful thing!  We talked about racial tensions on our campuses and the dearth of minority lawyers in the RJ field.  We talked about our personal ambitions as future attorneys and what kind of pressures we faced from our respective communities to do something outside of public interest law.  Participants also touched on issues I had not thought of before – for example, what a strong reproductive justice movement would look like in the South and how law students of color and LGBTQ law students could contribute to it.  The conversation was fascinating, and above all, I think it was so important to create a time and space to address a topic that rarely gets airtime:  the intersection of race and gender that lies at the heart of reproductive justice.

There is much more to explore as we return to our campuses and try to make intersectionality a bigger part of our LSRJ chapter advocacy.  But I believe the seeds have been planted for a keen awareness about how our identities impact what we say and how our words are heard by others.  As a Latina law student, I appreciated the opportunity to reflect on how my identity brings a different perspective to conversations about reproductive justice on campus, at my internships, and in the lives of people I talk to everyday.

Lucy Panza

In a scene from the most recent Twilight movie, Bella tries to convince Edward that she wants him and wants to take the next step in their relationship by having sex.  While Edward makes it clear that he definitely wants her back, he tells her that in his time, there would be a whole process before any of this could take place.  He would have wooed her, they’d hold hands, he’d get permission from her father to marry her, they’d get married, then they’d do the deed.  Bella informs him that it’s now her day in age, and that’s definitely not the way it works.  Who knew that Twilight would have such a brilliant metaphor for why abstinence-only education doesn’t work?

The problem with abstinence-only education is not so much that it wants teenagers to prolong sexual activity until they are married, but more that it’s completely out of touch with today’s modern teenager.  Suporters of ab-only education seem to believe that sex should only occur during marriage, and anything outside of that concept is morally wrong.  They suggest that comprehensive sex education that teaches students about condoms and other forms of contraception is what causes teenagers to engage in sexual behavior.  As if saying, well if kids don’t learn about condoms and contraception from their sex-ed teacher at school, then they will magically never be curious about sex or have any idea what it is.  Apparently, they’ve never turned on their TV.

The simple truth  is, teenagers are exposed to sex on a regular basis, whether their parents want to accept it or not.  It’s on TV.  It’s in music videos and song lyrics.  It’s in magazines and print ads for their favorite clothing store.  And on that little thing called the internet.  Sex is a part of our society and our culture, plain and simple.  Sexuality is part of the human condition.  And it’s complicated. (more…)

Film actress and television host Ricki Lake, twice pregnant (in real life and also in the movie Mrs. Winterbourne, alongside his royal hotness, Brendan Fraser), brings one of her birth experiences to the silver screen in The Business of Being Born.  Upset with the hospital birth experience the first time, Ms. Lake opts for a home birth the second time (Go Ricki! Go Ricki! Go Ricki!).  Her second son, Owen Sussman (now 9 years old), greets the world in gooey glory about 45 minutes into the movie, so you know it’s good.  The only thing that might have made it better is, as is the case for all movies, Brendan Fraser.

Somewhere between Frontline and Fahrenheit 911, this documentary presents a fact-based albeit slightly sanctimonious (and one-sided) examination of midwifery (mid-whiff-er-ee) and birthing options in America.  The statistics are frequently sobering – the one that really stuck with me was that, in 1900, 95% of all U.S. births took place at home, which was down to 50% by 1938 and <1% by 1955 (where it is today).  The movie partially credits hippy communes with the “rebirth” of midwifery in the U.S., noting necessity and the empowerment aspects of home birth.  (more…)

I had the wonderful privilege of spending last Thursday, July 1, 2010, in the California Capitol with a prominent reproductive health lobbyist.   After arriving in Sacramento via the beautifully scenic Amtrak train ride, we drove downtown near the Capitol where it was lunchtime and all the politicos were chatting, lunching and doing their politics thing.  While most people have heard of “lobbyists” or “lobbying,” what goes into the day to day work of this profession is something that many don’t know about.  I was able to experience even a few hours of that and it is a demanding profession.

Lobbying is a form of advocacy with the intention of influencing decisions made by legislators.  It is advocating on behalf of a client, whether it be an individual, organization or corporation.  The term “lobbying” comes from the fact that lobbyists used to stand in the areas, or “lobbies,” outside the House or Senate chambers in order to chat with legislators as they come to or from chambers or to await legislative decisions.

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Last week, I had the opportunity to participate in a really interesting webinar about Emergency Contraception with Dr. James Trussell, a leading researcher in contraceptive efficacy and contraceptive methods. The webinar was focused on updates on research about emergency contraception and some of its reasons for failure, as well as information about the newest EC option, Ella, which was recently approved by an advisory committee to the FDA. Much of the information presented related to the participants of the studies that were done to calculate the effectiveness of EC.

One of the most interesting aspects of the presentation was actually the question and answer period at the end of the presentation.  The main audience of this webinar turned out to be health care providers and medical professionals who counseled women about emergency contraception options across the country and even Canada. The questions that they asked Dr. Trussell reminded me that there are so many unique situations that people can find themselves in. Some expressed concern about their patient’s ability to access medication that is not available over-the-counter in rural areas, being able to afford emergency contraception without insurance, and whether using emergency contraception could interfere with breast-feeding. It was great to hear so many people who would be able to provide them with accurate information in a non-judgmental setting.  Since the announcement of the FDA’s consideration of Ella, the amount of misinformation represented on blogs, websites and news reports reminds me how important it is to have accurate, fact-based information from professionals readily available. It hopeful to know that many of the people giving advice and counsel to young women have taken the time to educate themselves on the facts of emergency contraception from one of the leading experts in the field.

Jeryl Hayes