The significance of the Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade (1973) for women’s health care, reproductive justice, and the scope of democracy will be addressed at the IC Constitution Day forum from the perspectives of an internationally renown feminist theorist who began her academic career the year that Roe was decided and a doctor who is beginning her medical career now. Dr. Zillah Eisenstein and Dr. Sarah Eisenstein Stumbar are the featured speakers at “Reproductive Justice: Celebrating and Defending ‘ROE’ at 40,” 7:30-9pm, in Emerson B.
Dr. Zillah Eisenstein, IC Distinguished Scholar of Anti-Racist Feminist Political Theory, will discuss the continuing importance of reproductive justice to a fully democratic society, especially for women and girls. An activist since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, Eisenstein argues, “Girls and women’s rights to their bodies- to choose, and decide, and control what happens to them is at the core of our ethical and productive lives. As the new ‘wars’ to control the access and legality of abortion and conception continue, it is more important than ever that reproductive justice remains at the center stage of struggles for democracy.”
Since Dr. Sarah Eisenstein Stumbar, Dr. Eisenstein’s daughter, is on call as a resident physician at the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, she will join in on the conversation via video, to discuss the current challenges that doctors face trying to protect the reproductive rights of their women and girl patients.
Thanks to librarian Cathy Michael for her useful resource page to help professors incorporate the issue of reproductive justice into their curricula about this year’s theme, http://www.ithacalibrary.com/sp/subjects/womensrights
The IC Constitution Day event, which is free and open to the public, is co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost and Vice-President, Politics Department, Women’s Studies and Park Center for Independent Media. Refreshments and the opportunity for ongoing informal discussions will follow the event.
Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Beth Harris, bharris@ithaca.edu. We ask that request for accommodations be made as soon as possible.
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20130915235903503