Reflecting on Reproductive Justice
The symposium Reflecting on Reproductive Justice features Loretta J. Ross and additional speakers including Rockie Gonzalez, Cynthia Ingar, Kimberly Mutcherson and representatives from local organizations Right By You, MO Ho Justice, Abortion Action Missouri, Medical Students for Choice Jamaa Birth Village, Missouri Abortion Fund, St. Louis Doula Project and more. Ross is an activist, public intellectual, scholar, the 2022 recipient of the MacArthur Foundation “Genius” award and an associate professor of the study of women and gender at Smith College.
The symposium is hosted by the Reproductive Justice, Health, Rights working group, which is housed in the Center for the Humanities. The group is supported by funding from the Office of the Provost’s Here + Next initiative as well as the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity (CRE2) and is directed by co-conveners Seanna Leath, assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences, and Zakiya Luna, associate professor of sociology.
Schedule
Pre-symposium
Thursday, September 5
Student event + public film screening of Aftershock
Symposium
Conversations around reproductive justice, health and rights
Friday, September 6
2 pm – Kimberly Mutcherson, “Reproductive Justice Beyond Abortion: Potential Life as a Tool of Subordination”
Roma Schaefer Nooter Lecture for the Department of Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies, also sponsored by the School of Law’s Law, Identity, & Culture Initiative and its Public Interest Law & Policy Speakers Series
4 pm – Conversation 1: Engaging with Rights Not to Have Children
- Maggie Olivia, Senior Manager of Public Policy and Abortion Storyteller, Abortion Action Missouri
- Pamela Merrit, Executive Director, Medical Students for Choice
- Mark Valentine, MD, PhD, Vice President of Missouri Abortion Fund
- Conversation facilitated by Susan Appleton, the Lemma Barkeloo & Phoebe Couzins Professor of Law at Washington University in St. Louis
5:30 pm – Opening reception
Saturday, September 7
9:30 am – Breakfast
10 am – Conversation 2: Engaging with Rights to Have Children and Form Families
- Phyllis Troupe, St. Louis Doula Project
- Cynthia Ingar, Hampi Warmi (Peru)
- Okunsola M. Amadou, Founder and CEO, Jamaa Birth Village
- Stephanie Kraft Sheley, Project Director & Founder, Right By You
11:30 am – Lunch
1 pm – Conversation 3: Engaging with Rights to Parent Across Movements
- Rockie Gonzalez, Deputy Director, Austin Justice Coalition
- Indigo Han, Co-founder and Healing Justice Programming and Leadership Development lead, MO Ho Justice
3 pm – Conversation 4: The Future of Reproductive Justice with Loretta Ross
- Facilitated by symposium co-conveners Seanna Leath (Assistant Professor of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Affiliated Faculty, at Washington University in St. Louis) and Zakiya Luna (Associate Professor of Sociology and Dean’s Distinguished Professorial Scholar at Washington University in St. Louis)