Fate of Roe v. Wade
with
Brenda Feigen, Dr. Wendy Chavkin, Carol Sanger and Rebecca Tong
Moderated by Kimberly Atkins Stohr
Wednesday, June 29th, 2022, 5:00-6:00 pm ET
Many in the country were sent into a panic in recent weeks when a draft opinion on the case involving Roe v. Wade, written by conservative Justice Alito, was leaked to the public with the conclusion that the Constitution does not protect the right to abortion. The final decision from the Supreme Court is expected any day now. Will this 49 year old ruling be thrown away? Such a decision will have major consequences for the U.S. What are the many complications and impacts for the women in states if abortion becomes illegal?
Join The Common Good to find out.
About the Speakers:
Kimberly Atkins Stohr is a senior opinion writer at The Boston Globe. She is also an MSNBC contributor. Before launching her journalism career, she was a trial and appellate litigation attorney in Boston. Previously, Kimberly was the first Washington, DC-based news correspondent for WBUR. She has also served as the Boston Herald’s Washington bureau chief, guest host of C-SPAN’s morning call-in show “Washington Journal,” and a Supreme Court reporter for Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and its sister publications. She has appeared as a political commentator on a host of national and international television and radio networks.
Brenda Feigen is a renowned feminist activist, film producer, and attorney who was one of the key figures of the feminist movement of the 1970’s and 80’s. She fought sexism at Harvard, worked on passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, coordinated the Senate testimony for the Equal Rights Amendment with Gloria Steinem, and testified herself. In 1972, Feigen left private practice, and she, Steinem, and Catherine Samuels founded The Women's Action Alliance which founded Ms. Magazine. In 1972, Feigen joined Ruth Bader Ginsburg in co-directing the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)'s newly formed Women's Rights Project (WRP). An interview with Feigen about this work is featured in the 2018 documentary RBG.
Carol Sanger writes and teaches courses on contracts, family law, the legal profession, and law and gender. Her most recent book, About Abortion: Terminating Pregnancy in the 21st Century, addresses the regulation of abortion and maternal conduct, surrogacy, and the law’s relation to culture. Since joining the Columbia Law School faculty in 1996, Sanger has been recognized for her dedication to students and teaching: She has received the Law School’s Willis L.M. Reese Prize for Excellence in Teaching, Columbia University’s Presidential Teaching Award, Social Justice Initiatives’ Outstanding Public Interest Faculty Member of the Year, and the Columbia Law Women’s Association’s Myra Bradwell Award for her commitment to mentoring female law students.
Rebecca Tong, Co-Executive Director of Trust Women, joined in 2013, after three years of organizing and directing grassroots political campaigns. Her experience in fundraising and legislative advocacy helped Trust Women to build a robust development department, with an emphasis on major giving and donor retention. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Illinois Wesleyan University in Political Science. After a brief hiatus in 2020 as Development Officer for The Land Institute, she returned to Trust Women to pursue her passion for reproductive justice and health issues.
Dr. Wendy Chavkin is co-founder of Global Doctors for Choice and previously served as the chair to the Board of Directors of Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health. In 2004-2005 she was a Fulbright New Century Scholar for her research on Fertility Decline and the Empowerment of Women, from 1994 to 2002 she was editor-in-chief of The Journal of the American Medical Women's Association, and from 1984 to 1988, the director of The Bureau of Maternity Services and Family Planning in New York City's Department of Health. She has written extensively about women's reproductive health issues, including the consequences of welfare reform for the health of women and children, HIV and illegal drug use in pregnancy, policy responses to declining birthrates, and conscientious objection to providing reproductive health care. She has received numerous awards from public health organizations for advocacy including the Jean Pakter and Allan Rosenfield awards.
