The Contraceptive Coverage Lawsuits

Fordham LSRJ alum Bridgette Dunlap looks at the thirty lawsuits challenging the HHS contraceptive mandate here.

Notre Dame Students Petition Asks University to Drop Complaint

Check out the awesome activism done by Notre Dame students with their petition here.  They make some great arguments, and question whether providing contraception would violate the university's conscience.

Link via RH Reality Check

Reproductive Justice Link Clickys!

Here's some awesome reading for the rest of your summer break!  Enjoy!

Recent Fordham grad Bridgette Dunlap wrote an article on why the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops argument about religious freedom is a lie.

And then she followed that up with more discussion of the USCCB's demonstrably false statement regarding the contraception mandate.

This a great article from the National Women's Law Center about information students should know about women's health services in the health care act that went into effect on August 1st.

This excellent video done by the L.A. Times describes the situation in the Philippines, where contraception is inaccessible by the poor, and how that affects families.  (Click on the fifth video, but each is insightful.)

Graduation!

Graduation was amazing.  I was so honored to receive the Eugene J. Keefe Memorial Award for outstanding contributions and service to the Fordham community along with Mike Zimmerman.  Here's the video of us accepting the award (I was unexpectedly crazy nervous). The extended draft of my remarks (had to cut for time) is below. 
 

I'm so grateful to LSRJ and everyone who supported us. And incredibly proud to be a Fordham Law grad!

I am very honored to be recognized with the Keefe Award and we share it with everyone here who has worked to make Fordham a better place.

Catholic-affiliated institutions like ours have been in the news quite a bit this year, and they have often been portrayed in ways that don’t reflect the Fordham Law experience. At Fordham , we value diverse perspectives and respect principled disagreement. We work for equality and believe the law protects it. We are a community that welcomes people of all faiths or no faith, all races, heritages, nationalities, genders, and sexual orientations.  Where we could be more welcoming of difference, we have worked to educated each other and improve.

The invocation today may have been the first time you’ve heard a prayer  in your time at Fordham, but it is important to realize that even if we are Jewish, Muslim, or atheist – we are all Catholic school kids now. As such, we have a shared responsibility to make Catholic institutions a force for good and to see that fact is understood in the world.

Earlier this year I heard the undergraduate student body president of Fordham college at Lincoln Center tell his peers that “As students of a Jesuit institution, we are called to be bothered by injustice.” I will add that as Fordham lawyers, graduates of a law school “In the Service of Others,” we are called to remedy the injustice we see.

I know that we will continue to bring the Fordham Law spirit of service to firms and organizations throughout the world.  I hope that as we tackle big problems, we refuse to tolerate the seemingly little injustices as well; that we are mindful of how our power and privilege, which will only increase with the degrees we receive today, can insulate us from their effects. 

When the farmshare shut down, we could have gotten our organic vegetables elsewhere.  It didn't make sense that we had to, but more importantly those vegetables were missed by members of our community at St. Paul’s soup kitchen next door, who don't have the same options we do. 

What may have been a relatively minor practical obstacle to accessing contraceptives for a law student can be something else entirely for an 18-year-old who has just moved to the Bronx. Furthermore, that hurdle, though manageable, has larger implications for the equal participation of women in society and the workforce.  We are called to be bothered and to act - so we did.

I feel extremely fortunate for the education I’ve received from my excellent professors and my peers at Fordham and I look forward to all of our continued contributions to the Fordham community and to our field.

Thank you.

The Fordham Observer on whether there is a health exception in practice

Check out Harry Huggins' story in The Observer, Birth Control Policy Questioned:

When asked to provide the number of women prescribed birth control by the Health Center in the last five years, Director of Health Services Kathleen Malara declined to do so, saying that releasing the numbers would be a violation of student privacy. Student Press Law Center Consulting Attorney Mike Hiestand said that Fordham could share this information without violating any privacy laws, but that as a private institution it was not required to do so. 

In their dealings with the Health Center, neither Wolf nor Dunlap believed the nurse practitioners giving the exams were the people responsible for refusing to prescribe birth control. “As far as gynecological exams go, I think students should feel comfortable about going [to the Health Center],” Wolf said. “Everyone that works there was great and very professional.”

The LA Times reported on Fordham students with health issues who were denied treatment on campus as well.  Fordham LSRJ believes birth control is a fundamental part of women's health care, so we don't mean to overemphasize its use in the treatment of health conditions.  However, the fact that the University's statements regarding the Health Center policies are not reflective of the experiences of Fordham students is a serious problem:  in terms of both potential health consequences and what it says about the University's willingness to address the concerns of its students.

Democrats ask Issa to condem attacks on Sandra Fluke

I just received this from the oversight committee:

Dear Mr. Chairman:
 

 

        We are writing to ask that you, as the Chairman of the Oversight Committee, join us in a bipartisan manner to strongly condemn the recent statements by radio host Rush Limbaugh regarding Ms. Sandra Fluke, the third-year student at Georgetown law school whom we sought to have testify at the Committee’s hearing on contraceptives on February 16, 2012.

 

        As you know, Committee Democrats requested Ms. Fluke’s testimony to highlight the critical importance of insurance coverage for preventive health care, including contraceptives, to millions of women across the country. Letter from Ranking Member Elijah E. Cummings to Chairman Darrell E. Issa, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (Feb. 15, 2012) (online at http://democrats.oversight.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5624:the-voice-the-gop-didnt-want-you-to-hear&catid=3:press-releases&Itemid=49).  After you refused to allow Ms. Fluke to testify before our Committee, she appeared before the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, and she conducted herself with intelligence, dignity, and sincerity. See Sandra Fluke Finally Testifies Before Congress, Ranking Member Elijah E. Cummings (Feb. 23, 2012) (online at http://democrats.oversight.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5627:sandra-fluke-finally-testifies-before-congress&catid=3:press-releases&Itemid=49).

 

        Yesterday’s statements by Rush Limbaugh were a vicious assault, not only against Ms. Fluke but against women across the country who rely on birth control and want it covered by their health insurance policies.  The pill has had a profound impact on their well-being, allowing them to control their lives, make very personal decisions about how many children to have and when to have them, and in some cases treat critical illnesses.

 

        As the Chairman of the Committee that first attempted to silence Ms. Fluke and prevent her from testifying, you are in a unique position to speak out now on her behalf and to join us in condemning, in the strongest possible terms, this very public and very malicious attack on all women who share her views.

 

        Thank you for considering this request.

Limbaugh attacks Sandra Fluke

After conversations about me testifying before the oversight committee, the Democrats initially decided against having a student because they expected the Republicans to be really nasty.   At first I thought I could take it, thanks to my experience being personally attacked by internet Catholics.  Then it occurred to me that they were worried about a student being called a whore in public, which I had to admit would be pretty awful.   

I'm so grateful for Sandra's bravery.  The attacks on her show that, though the Republicans keep absurdly repeating the talking point that "this isn't about contraception" it absolutely is - as a means to control and punish women.