On June 31, 2014, ACLU law clerks attended the second annual “Atlanta Summer Intern Training on Reproductive Rights Law and Justice,” sponsored by Law Students for Reproductive Justice and hosted by the Feminist Women’s Health Center. The training was an educational and enlightening experience. It was attended by summer law clerks and interns from several legal and advocacy organizations that work to further the reproductive rights of women in Georgia. The four-hour training focused on key reproductive justice issues in Georgia that went well beyond the traditional debate over abortion rights, and included a discussion on the rights of women to give birth with dignity and the obstacles that many women face in accessing much needed health services.
We discussed both legal and legislative developments, and critically examined the junk science used to further a prejudicial political agenda that seeks to limit women’s reproductive rights. Earlier that morning, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, holding that closely held corporations can validly exercise religious beliefs and use those beliefs to deny contraception coverage to their employees. Many attendees at the training expressed serious concerns with how this case could allow corporations to take further discriminatory actions under the guise of religious freedom. While the decision in Hobby Lobby was disappointing, it lent itself to a lively and invigorating discussion on other ways women’s reproductive rights are being chipped away and the steps we can take to take back those fundamental rights.
The reproductive rights training also provided a streamlined and brief overview on the effects of Georgia legislative advocacy, litigation tools, and public education and community organizing, helping law students take away concise information that will be easily transferable to their own advocacy and educating others. The ACLU Foundation of Georgia teamed up with the Feminist Women’s Health Center and the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation in the training, and provided key insights into the politics of reproductive rights law and the role advocacy plays in, not only community organizing, but lobbying and getting a distinct message to the right people. The Atlanta Summer Intern Training on Reproductive Rights Law and Justice was a great opportunity for law students and other advocates to learn about the evolving legal and legislative landscape of reproductive justice.
