The Deployment of COVID-19 to Undermine Sexual and Reproductive Health

As COVID-19 threatens to collapse our healthcare system, sexual and reproductive health and rights are in grave jeopardy. Opportunistic policymakers are exploiting the pandemic to restrict or outright ban abortion care and access to contraception. In what ways has the health emergency exacerbated already existing vulnerabilities, and in what other ways has it created new problems? What advocacy strategies are being used to combat the exploitation of a state of emergency to curtail sexual and reproductive health? How is access to medical treatment for trans people negatively affected by the pandemic? What lessons can be learned from the HIV epidemic in relation to the increased use of the criminal law in the name of protecting public health? How can human rights principles be used to protect bodily autonomy and sexual/reproductive health during this crisis? Join us for a talk with Brigitte Amiri (ACLU), Eszter Kismodi (Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters), Melissa Murray (NYU), and Quita Tinsley (Access Reproductive Care-Southeast); moderated by Katherine Franke (Columbia).

The series is organized by the Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute, Duke Law’s International Human Rights Clinic, Columbia Law School’s Center for Gender and Sexuality Law, and Just Security.

Join future events via Zoom at https://tinyurl.com/COVID19Justice