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NAPW Law Student Writing Competition 2008-2009 Academic School Year. $1,000 first prize

Issues of concern to pregnant and birthing women have often been missing from discussion in law school courses and among reproductive rights activists. Thanks in large part to public education efforts by writers, filmmakers, and community activists, there is an unprecedented amount of attention and momentum surrounding the rights of pregnant and birthing women. To advance these efforts further, NAPW has developed two writing contests. NAPW and numerous Co-Sponsors and Supporters (to be announced) hope that these contests will leverage the enthusiasm and creativity of a new generation of feminist legal scholars and spark critical thinking about the need to address childbirth and birthing rights as constitutional and human rights issues.

The first contest asks for a critical analysis of the absence of birthing rights issues from gender discrimination and feminist jurisprudence textbooks and curricula (in fact, none of the top three casebooks used in law school courses dedicated to gender and the law address the issue of childbirth or midwifery). The second contest asks students to develop legal theories that can be used to challenge policies banning pregnant women from having a vaginal birth after a prior caesarean section (VBAC). This topic will encourage students to address a growing problem that has received very little attention from the feminist legal community both in academia and within the leading women's rights legal advocacy organizations.

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Take Action: Write to the Obama-Biden Transition Team

With the new Administration, we have an opportunity to have input into the national health care agenda; we need your help to do this. . We are asking you to tell the Obama-Biden Transition team that health care must include comprehensive care for all pregnant women – whether they are seeking to end a pregnancy or hoping to go to term. NAPW is very proud that as a result of our cross movement building and collaborations, major organizations, including the Center for American Progress, a coalition of pro-choice organizations and the National Organization for Women (NOW) have all submitted reproductive health agendas to the new Administration that include proposals not only to protect the right to choose abortion and to use and understand the value of contraceptive services, but also to advance the health and rights of women going to term. For a long time, I believed that the abortion issue would continue to be used successfully as a brilliant diversion to divide and distract – particularly in the area of national or universal health care. It seemed that just raising the issue of including abortion in a new health care plan could potentially scuttle the whole thing. Today, though, I think we can move beyond that – from claims of supporting a culture of life, to a health care plan that actually supports and provides care for all the women who give that life. more »

The Elections, The Transition Team, The Change We Need!

As many of you know by now, all of the state anti-abortion/fetal rights ballot measures were defeated. NAPW, working with extraordinary state and local allies in Colorado and South Dakota, played a role. Indeed, we can't help but believe that our video, viewed by thousands of people in those states in the days leading up to the vote, and our efforts to expand the base, especially in Colorado this year, made a difference. The Colorado amendment was defeated 3-1, strongly suggesting that our efforts, along with COLOR and L. Indra Lusero of the the Luz Reproductive Justice Think Tank, to broaden the base and expand the arguments -- account for the huge margin of victory. more »

NAPW in New York Times, Honored at Ms. Foundation Event

Honored by The National Women's Health Network: Continuing the Legacy of Activist, Barbara Seaman

NAPW -- Open Letter to Governor Palin

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