Reproductive Justice Across Literature, Law & Medicine: Our Bodies Ourselves Past, Present & Future

The Public Policy Center is proud to co-sponsor this event hosted by the Department of Gender, Women's & Sexuality Studies (GWSS).

Join us for a conversation between two University of Iowa students and three key figures of Our Bodies Ourselves Today (formerly the Boston Women's Health Collective), the legendary collective that published the groundbreaking text Our Bodies, Ourselves in 1969. This organization has continued to advocate for reproductive justice - developing powerful and inspiring models of health communication, medical education, legal advocacy, and literary publishing on the body. This webinar-style conversation and Q&A will range wide and deep, including topics such as:

• The challenges and pleasures of publishing research-based, responsible information on reproductive health and healthcare
• Grassroots and community-based organizing on health equity
• Intersectional feminist law and legal practice
• Sexual and gender justice in policy and public life
• Contraception and abortion care before Roe and, now, after Dobbs

Visiting Speakers:

• Kathy Allen, JD
  • Commissioner for the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (1985-91), founding member of the Women's Law Collective in Boston (1972), and original legal counsel for The Boston Women's Health Collective
• Cristina Alonso, CPW, DrPH
  • Health equity director for La Colaborativa in Chelsea, MA, advocate for community-owned and empowered health care, and Our Bodies, Ourselves board member
• Judy Norsigian
  • ​​​​​​​Co-founder and member of the Boston Women's Health Book Collective and current chair of the Our Bodies, Ourselves board of directors

Conversants:

• Berkley Conner
  • ​​​​​​​Doctoral candidate in communication studies and the GWSS graduate certificate at the University of Iowa
• Jordan Geriane
  • ​​​​​​​University of Iowa class of 2023, English and GWSS major

This event is free and open to the public. Participants are required to register prior to attending.

Co-sponsored by Communication Studies, Political Science, the Public Policy Center, Rhetoric, the College of Law, the College of Public Health, Obstetrics and Gynecology, History, English, American Studies, the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, The Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, POROI, the Women's Resource and Action Center, and the Women's Archives at the University libraries.

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact Laura Kastens in advance at 319-467-0066 or laura-kastens@uiowa.edu.

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