Historians and Abortion Rights: A Roundtable Discussion

Wednesday, April 5, 2017
6:00 pm
Room 523 Butler Library

With:

Alice Kessler-Harris (Columbia), Reva Siegel (Yale Law School), Kevin Fong and Christine Scheuneman (Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP). Moderated by Michael Hindus (Center for American Studies, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP).

Last year sixteen historians of women filed an amicus curiae brief in the United States Supreme Court in a case involving the attempt of the state of Texas to regulate abortion clinics in a way that would make abortion services unavailable to most women.  Based on historical experience, the historians argued, any new law that claims to protect women's health and safety should be scrutinized carefully to assess whether its ostensibly protective function actually serves to deny liberty and equal citizenship to women.  Siding with the historians (and others), last year the Supreme Court struck down the Texas law.

Alice Kessler-Harris and Reva Siegel will join the lawyers who filed the brief, Kevin Fong and Christine Scheuneman, to discuss the case and the role of historians in the Court's decision.  Michael Hindus will moderate.