We are thrilled to introduce our six dynamic and dazzling resident bloggers, coming at you from law schools across the country throughout the 2011-2012 school year!

They come from long-standing chapters, from brand-new chapters, from the South, Midwest, Northeast, DC, and the West, and they will be sharing their chapters successes, discussing challenging conversations they’ve had with colleagues and friends, and inviting us to think critically about a wide range of RJ issues.

Burke Bindbeutel, 2L, University of Missouri

Burke is just beginning an internship at the Missouri Commission for Human Rights. In the summer of 2011, he worked for the Missouri State Public Defender, in the Trial Division. A Missouri native, he has rediscovered his roots through the study of history as a research assistant for the War & Reconciliation project. Burke serves on the screening committee of the True/False Film Festival. In high school, he portrayed Benedick in a stage production of “Much Ado About Nothing.”

Joanne Caceres, 2L, Harvard Law School

Joanne’s interests in reproductive justice include community organizing and progressive advocacy. She is her chapter’s Community Liaison Chair and hopes in this capacity to encourage stronger and broader coalitions on campus. As a a first-generation Hispanic American, Joanne is particularly worried about how lower income and language barriers affect women’s access to adequate healthcare and education.

Mallory Carlberg, 2L, University of Oklahoma

Mallory is currently enjoying the newly regained freedom to choose her own schedule as a 2L at the University of Oklahoma. Despite it being at eight a.m., Health Law is her favorite class. She is interested in issues related to birth justice, comprehensive sex education, and abortion access. She is an editor for the blog at Oklahomans for Reproductive Justice (OK4RJ), a grassroots organization dedicated to caring and advocating for Oklahomans. Additionally she volunteers at a program assisting survivors of domestic violence in obtaining victim protective orders. This year she is co-founding an LSRJ chapter, and is excited to bring a red state perspective to RepoRepro.

Candace Gibson, 3L, University of Utah

Candace is starting an LSRJ chapter as a 3L at the University of Utah. Candace hails from Los Angeles, was raised in Utah, and as a young feminist fled to Smith College.  Before going to law school, she worked with refugee and ethnic communities on a wide range of issues at a small non-profit in Utah.  When her friends and she aren’t talking about politics, they like to analyze pop culture, especially Mad Men.

Shandanette Molnar, 2L, George Washington University Law School

Shandanette is a 2L and Master of Public Health candidate in Maternal & Child Health at George Washington University in Washington, DC. Additionally, she is a birth and postpartum doula and Certificated Lactation Educator & Counselor who volunteers at a local birth center and with a childcare collective. She hopes to blend her legal advocacy skills and public health scholarship with her commitment to reproductive justice, informed choices, and better birth and breastfeeding practices.

Susy Prochazka, 2L, Thomas Jefferson School of Law

Susy is originally from both Prague, Czech Republic and Boulder, Colorado. In her sparse spare time, she enjoys reading sci-fi novels on the beach and surfing.  Before law school, Susy interned at several human rights organizations in D.C. to follow her passion while slinging coffee as a barista to pay the bills. As the co-president of her LSRJ chapter, Susy is working to introduce the concept of reproductive justice and all it entails to the broader community to encourage free expression of body, gender, and sexuality.

LSRJ is thrilled to introduce four passionate and thoughtful resident bloggers for the 2010-2011 school year. They will be sharing their insights, opinions, and experiences as RJ advocates on law school campuses across the country. Post questions, challenge them and yourself, and join the conversation! They are:

Lucy Panza – Georgetown University Law Center

Lucy is a 3L at Georgetown. Originally from Argentina, she was raised in Maryland and has loved politics and dogs from a young age. She is co-president of her LSRJ chapter this year, which offers the ever-exciting opportunity to grapple with a Catholic university over free-speech issues, coverage of reproductive health benefits in the student insurance plan, and heading up an unfunded, unsponsored student organization. Lucy is excited to bring a Latina perspective to RepoRepro — and she’s excited to be nearing the end of law school!

Lara Shkordoff – Northeastern University School of Law

Lara is a 2L at Northeastern. She hails from Toronto, Canada and has led many different lives in her journey from Canada-land to Beantown to LSRJ resident blogger. She was a waitress at an Irish pub; an almost-Masters student in Longdon; a receptionist at a cosmetic surgery clinic; and co-founder of an education advocacy organization that fights to end sexism, racism, classism, and homophobia in Ontario high schools. Lara is particularly fond of watching New York Undercover marathons and listening to early-mid 90′s R&B. She is not fond of questionnaires, speaking in third person, or wearing sunglasses in the club. Lara is excited to blog about RJ for many reasons, one being that since taking up residence south of the Canadian border, her uterus and ovaries have felt a little less legally protected.

Sara Taylor – University of Michigan Law School

Sara is a 3L at Michigan and a proud LSRJ intern alumnus! She loves to bake and makes a life-altering ginger scone. Sara had a rich professional life before the oppressive nature of law school took over, from bartending to biology, most of which required a sense of humor and sometimes an anal probe. Her goal in life is to help women and girls feel safe and supported no matter where they’ve been or where they’re headed. She knows she is going to love being a resident blogger because she can finally stop having conversations with herself.

Jess Wilkerson – Vermont Law School

Jess is a 2L at Vermont. As a strong believer in the equal distribution of power among all peoples, she is interested in asking critical questions about the state of access to reproductive information and health globally. At VLS, she actively seeks to engage the entire community in discussion about how these issues play out for each individual personally and how future clients may be affected as well. She is excited to be bringing this conversation to the greater online community! When she has time, she loves to put her off-road driving certification to use by getting outside!

If you are interested in guest blogging for or cross-posting on RepoRepro, email reporepro at lsrj dot org.

Hi everyone and welcome to Repo(ssess) Repro(ductive Justice), the blog of the new Law Students for Reproductive Justice (LSRJ) , formerly Law Students for Choice. I’m your host, Julie B. Ehrlich, a 3L at NYU School of Law and a member of LSRJ’s Board of Directors (my bio).

While this blog is connected to LSRJ, the opinions expressed on it will be wholly my own. That said, I thought it might be fitting, given LSRJ’s new identity, to use this first post to explain what exactly is reproductive justice and why exactly this organization has decided to take it on as its new name.

Reproductive justice – a term made popular by the organization SisterSong, the Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective – encompasses LSRJ’s goals of recognizing and overcoming the causes of reproductive oppression through law and advocacy. Reproductive justice aims not only to ensure that U.S. law protects abortion rights but also to make sure that abortion, sex education, and contraception are available and accessible to everyone. Reproductive justice supports unobstructed decisionmaking about sexual and reproductive health for people of all sexes and all sexual orientations, so that everyone has full control over whether and when to become parents.

The idea of reproductive justice, we think, better represents the diversity and intersectionality at the heart of our movement, and highlights the collaborative nature of our work. By framing the issues as one of justice as opposed to freedom or rights, we are calling attention to the claim – our belief – that we all possess not only a negative right to be free from government interference and discrimination in the way we live our sexual and reproductive lives, but also a positive right to be supported in those choices.

At root, though, it’s only the name that’s new. LSRJ has been working to support reproductive justice and to train law students as advocates since its founding as LSFC. It’s just that now we have a name to match our mission.

So that’s the spiel or at least the opening salvo. In the future, look for posts here about everything from women in prison to midwifery and doulas to Supreme Court decisions to transgender rights. And for all of you LSRJ activists and advocates out there, I want to hear from you. Send me your success stories, the battles you’re fighting on campus, or links to other issues you think are important for reproductive justice.