The Landscape of Women’s Bodily Autonomy: Collaboration Toward Greater Access to Reproductive Freedom and Care in the US

Time: March 26, 2024, 1 p.m. - 5 p.m.

Location: Slocum Auditorium, Slocum Hall

This session brings together speakers from a variety of disciplines—from a local women’s healthcare professional to social workers and advocacy groups, to lawyers and architects—to discuss the challenges they are facing on-the-ground and to share creative techniques for navigating the post-Roe landscape.

Schedule

1:00 pm - Introductions
Meet the presenters and hear an overview of the 2024 post-Roe situation in the US, broadly speaking (e.g., major changes in laws, where abortion is protected/unprotected/illegal, impacts of interstate travel for care, etc.).

1:15–1:35 -The Dust Has Yet to Settle: The Evolving Landscape of Abortion and Reproductive Healthcare Post-Dobbs
Melissa Shube discusses litigation on behalf of providers and access to reproductive healthcare, as well as the current range of legal challenges doctors and clinics are facing in providing such care.

1:40–2:00 - Reproductive Justice: Research, Policy and Activism
Kimala Price’s career brings insight into the ways one can move between research, advocacy and activism spanning the academy, legislation and policy, and non-profit organizations through a reproductive justice approach.

2:05–2:25 - Connecting Locally
Sequoia Kemp will discuss her local doula practice, challenges her clients have encountered that are often overlooked, and ways she has discovered to work around these to provide comprehensive reproductive healthcare for traditionally under-represented women in NY, as well as discuss other types of support that are needed in our community..

2:25–3:00 - Discussion
A question-and-answer session fosters dialogue and collaboration.

3:00-3:30 - Refreshment Break
Participants are invited to take a break and engage each other informally.

3:30–4:15 - Navigating the Post-Roe Legal Minefield: Design and Use of Architectural Space
A research collaboration between Lori Brown and Shoshana Ehrlich examines on-the-ground impacts for providers and ways to understand how law and policy intersect with the design and use of architectural space in post-Roe America. Q&A to follow.

4:15–4:30 - Student Research and Design: An Introduction to Recent Student Work
Lori Brown presents a brief overview of how professors and students from three New York architecture schools, Syracuse, Columbia, and City College, collaborated across the Fall 2022 semester in response to the overturn of Roe which included a robust virtual guest lecture series, shared readings, and student-led discussions.

4:30—4:35 - Concluding Remarks / Closing Reception
Guests are encouraged to stay and engage with the speakers and students about their research.

About the Presenters

• Sequoia Kemp, BSN: SeQuoia is a locally practicing doula of Doula 4 a Queen & Sankofa Reproductive Health and Healing Center, with expertise in providing comprehensive reproductive healthcare for traditionally under-represented women in New York.
• Lori Brown, FAIA: Lori is a distinguished professor of architecture at Syracuse’s School of Architecture and is currently examining the impact of how law and policy intersects with design and use of architectural space in post-Roe America.
• Shoshanna Ehrlich, JD: Shoshanna is Professor Emerita, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston and her area of research includes abortion stigma, abortion regret, and abortion regulation laws in the US.
• Kimala Price, PhD: Kimala is a women’s studies professor at San Diego State with expertise in how we might move between research, advocacy, and activism at their point of intersection with reproductive justice.
• Melissa Shube, JD: Melissa is a reproductive health rights and justice attorney for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America with expertise on the legal challenges providers and clinics face when providing access to reproductive healthcare.

Additional support for this event comes from the Office of the Associate Provost for Strategic Initiatives.