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REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE: IS BEING PREGNANT A CRIME?
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28TH, 7:00 - 8:30PM ET
We have created 3 videos from this conversation, including one of the whole event and one shorter twelve minute version with the highlights. You will find them all along the top of the screen just to the right of the title of the forum. Click on the ≡ button. That will open a drop down menu. You can then scroll down the menu and choose individual videos to play.
“The emphasis must not be on the right to abortion but on the right to privacy and reproductive control”
--- Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
With the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the looming cuts to federal health care programs like the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid, women confront renewed obstacles to reproductive health care. Routine procedures like screening for cancers or prescribing birth control become harder to obtain, and the very condition of pregnancy is increasingly becoming grounds for criminal prosecution in some states. Confusion and chaos are seeping into the health care systems women have relied on for decades.
These dire assessments were voiced by a panel of medical and legal experts at ClassACT HR73’s forum “Reproductive Justice: Is Being Pregnant a Crime” held on September 28. Dr. Vivian Lewis ’73, Professor Emerita of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Rochester Medical Center, moderated a discussion that included Dr. Jamila Perritt, President and CEO of Physicians for Reproductive Health; Attorney Karen Thompson, the Director of Litigation at Pregnancy Justice, and Dr. Jenna Tosh, the President and CEO of Planned Parenthood California Central Coast. JusticeAid, one of Class ACT’s oldest non-profit collaborating partners, co-sponsored the forum.
“It comes full circle, it can affect us all,” said Dr. Lewis, who remembered a colleague who was murdered for performing abortion.
The use of federal funds for Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood has been blocked by the Trump administration, a policy that a US appeals Court allowed to stand last month while legal challenges continue. The non-profit, which provides services like cancer screening, treatment for sexually transmitted diseases as well as abortion in states where it is legal, has said that more than 1.1 million patients will no longer be able to use their Medicaid insurance at Planned Parenthood, and more than 200 of its clinics are likely to close as a result. “Medical outcomes will worsen, and ultimately it will make pregnancy more dangerous,” said Dr. Tosh.
People who become pregnant and their physicians and midwives also face new legal challenges as more and more states bring criminal charges for situations that should be treated simply as health care issues, said Karen Thompson of Pregnancy Justice. In some instances women who suffered a natural miscarriage were charged with a crime, investigated, and in at least one case imprisoned. Other expectant and new mothers were accused of ingesting opiates after non-consensual drug tests came back positive as a result of their having eaten a poppy seed bagel. The severity of these threats has grown in states like Alabama, which now have “fetal personhood” laws that grant constitutional rights to the fetus, Thompson said.
The majority of pregnant people who face these increased threats of criminalization are the poor, racial minorities, and immigrants, said Dr. Perritt. Urging the audience to “Defend folks at greatest risk,” she added “Our liberation is bound.”
In the Calls to Action at the forum’s end, Dr. Lewis and Dr. Tosh asked listeners to call their Representatives and Senators in Washington about these growing threats to reproductive health like the cuts to Medicaid and Planned Parenthood.
“Educate yourself,” said Dr. Tosh. “What are the laws in your community? What are the actions you can take?”
OUR PANELISTS
MODERATOR, DR. VIVIAN LEWIS '73
Professor Emerita of OB/GYN,
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
Dr. Lewis is Professor emerita of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Rochester. Women’s Health has been an important focus for her clinical and research efforts – primarily centered on infertility, reproductive endocrinology and menopause. Her perspective is informed by her personal experience as an African-American woman, deeply committed to healthcare as a social justice issue. Her perspective as a professional comes from experience with delivery of healthcare, overseeing clinical trials in women’s health and leadership roles in several national organizations, including the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Medical Association and the American College of Obstetrician-Gynecologists. As Chair of the Reproductive Health Drugs Committee for the Food and Drug Administration, she oversaw several controversial meetings on such topics as sexuality, contraception and medical abortion. Her work in academic medicine as an educator, mentor and senior leader includes appointments at University of Rochester, University of Illinois and University of California-San Francisco. Dr. Lewis currently is a board member of HR Class ACT 73 and she is President of Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons Alumni Association. She has been a member of Planned Parenthood Association for over 40 years.
CALL TO ACTION:
- Hold your lawmakers accountable for their decisions regarding reproductive rights. Know who they are, pick up the phone, and tell them what you think.
DR. JAMILA PERRITT
President and CEO, Physicians for Reproductive Health
Instagram: @reprorightsdoc
Website: prh.org
Dr. Jamila Perritt (she/her) is a fellowship trained, board-certified Obstetrician and Gynecologist and President and CEO of Physicians for Reproductive Health (PRH), a physician led organization that mobilizes the medical community, educating and organizing providers, using medicine and science to advance access to reproductive health care for all people. She has a comprehensive background in family planning and has worked more than 20 years in the reproductive health, rights and justice spaces. She provides on the ground, community-based care focusing primarily on the intersection of sexual health, reproductive rights, and social justice. In addition to her work as a clinical provider in the Washington, DC area, she has led PRH since 2020. Dr. Perritt’s work as a passionate advocate for reproductive health, rights and justice has allowed her to work closely with many organizations in support of access to comprehensive reproductive health care, including Advocates for Youth and Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Dr. Perritt serves via Mayoral appointment as co-chair of Washington DC’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee. She is a Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and has served as Chair of ACOG’s Committee for the Health Care for Underserved Women. She is a member of the Society of Family Planning, the Black Mamas Matter Alliance, the Black Maternal Health Federal Policy Collective and a founding member of CERCL-FP (Centering Equity and Racial Literacy in Family Planning.)
CALLS TO ACTION:
- Realize that our liberation is bound together. Abortion, reproductive rights, immigration, the militarization of our cities, all these things are deeply interconnected.
- As an abortion provider, I urge you to donate to abortion funds in your communities.
KAREN THOMPSON
Legal Director, Pregnancy Justice
Bluesky: @PregnancyJust
Instagram: @pregnancyjust
A
s the Director of Litigation at Pregnancy Justice, Karen (KT) Thompson leads a team of attorneys in advocating for women and all those pregnancy-able who are prosecuted because of their pregnancies or pregnancy outcomes, whether that be a birth, a miscarriage or stillbirth, or an abortion. KT oversees the strategic litigation and legal advocacy efforts of Pregnancy Justice, working with partners and allies to advance the rights and dignity of pregnant people. Prior to joining Pregnancy Justice in January 2024, KT was a Senior Staff Attorney at the ACLU of New Jersey, where she litigated high-impact civil rights and civil liberties cases, focusing mainly on criminal legal system reform and prosecutorial accountability issues. A near decade of litigating wrongful conviction cases in Arkansas, Oklahoma, West Virginia, South Carolina and Pennsylvania as a senior staff attorney at the Innocence Project inform her litigation approaches every day. Her committed work in equipping new generations of civil rights leaders began during her time as the Director of Scholarship programs at LDF and continues in her mentorship and supervision of newly admitted attorneys. These combined experiences, alongside her seven years as an attorney in BigLaw, provide KT with a unique understanding of oppressive systems, as well as the vast opportunities for repair and resistance that can occur within them. KT continues to believe in the eternal power of the we.
CALLS TO ACTION:
- Sign up for Pregnancy Justice’s newsletter
- If you or those you know live in South Carolina, call your lawmaker and tell them to vote no on Senate Bill 323, which would make abortion a homicide in that state. The vote is coming up on October 1st.
- Donate at justiceaid.org to support Pregnancy Justice, their 2025 grantee partner
DR. JENNA TOSH
President & CEO, Planned Parenthood CA, Central Coast
Instagram: @ppcacentralcoast
Facebook: @ppcentralcoast
Website: ppcentralcoast.org
Dr. Jenna Tosh is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Planned Parenthood California Central Coast, a role she has held since February 2015. Jenna began her career at Planned Parenthood in 2005, as the Director of Education & Advocacy for Planned Parenthood of Greater Orlando, where she also went on to hold the role of CEO. She holds a Doctorate in Public Affairs from the University of Central Florida, where she did her dissertation research on state reproductive health policies and their impact on teen pregnancy outcomes. Since taking the helm at Planned Parenthood California Central Coast, Dr. Tosh has led the implementation of evidence-based programs, the expansion of sexually transmitted infection services, and PPCCC's expansion into gender affirming care. Dr. Tosh is a past Chair of the Affiliate Chief Executive Council (ACEC), and is a two-time Chair of the Planned Parenthood California Education Fund, the statewide Planned Parenthood organization that has advanced some of the most pro-reproductive health policies in the country.
CALLS TO ACTION:
- Find and support your local Planned Parenthood affiliate here
- Call your member of Congress to make it clear that you support Planned Parenthood and want to see the defund provision reversed.
CALLS TO ACTION:
- Be informed. Share the very real health care and medical risks currently facing people who are pregnant and the medical professionals who take care of them. With everything going on in our country right now, we must return focus to this issue.
- Support and volunteer for reproductive justice organizations in your community, such as your local Planned Parenthood, Pregnancy Justice and community based abortion funds that are engaged in the fight for reproductive rights.
- As an example, Planned Parenthood is looking for volunteers to escort patients safely into and out of clinics, especially when protesters are present.
- Share this forum with others around you – it is a powerful tool for education.
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