Reproductive Rights & Gender Discrimination: What's Healthcare Got to Do With it?
Reproductive Rights & Gender Discrimination: What's Healthcare Got to Do With it?
What men don't know, what legislators pretend to know, but everyone seems to get wrong
Yesterday I interviewed two women that have been advocating justice in the courts and for victims of violence - mostly women to get justice for being physically abused and sexually assaulted. One was a legend, who has for over forty years been advocating against gender bias in the courts and teaching the judiciary how gender bias, even unconscious bias can weigh in and be detrimental to dispensing justice. The other was a fierce advocated fighting for those who have been abused and the system has turned a blind eye.
Interview with a Legal Legend
After doing my recent programming with the legendary attorney, James Brosnahan author of Justice at Trial: Courtroom Battles & Groundbreaking Cases, and his memoir outlining his 60+ years as both a prosecutor and defense attorney, I couldn’t help but see the parallels between gender discrimination from the 1960’s to present. How women were once discriminated against in the legal profession, and how women who are victims of violence and abuse are still discriminated against in the courts today. In fact, Brosnahan tells the story from the days of Harvard Law, along with his wife, retired Judge Carol Brosnahan of how women were once treated by professors, classmates and would-be employers. How family law was the only venue for female lawyers - if they were lucky enough to get even that.
From the days of Sandra Day O’Connor who later became the first female Justice on the US Supreme Court, to Ruth Bader Ginsburg the second - Jim Brosnahan and his wife Carol recount the days when Ginsburg was at Harvard Law alongside them, later transferring to Columbia. They also recount meeting with Sandra Day O’Connor in the day when she like Carol Brosnahan couldn’t get a job - especially in a big law firm - all because of their gender.
Then and Now
But today, women are still discriminated against, just take a look at the rulings from the US Supreme Court. Rulings that mandate women carry to term pregnancies that could literally kill them, and harm their reproductive organs as well. Most egregious - those pregnant by rape and incest - yet made to carry their ill-conceived child to term.
The recent Dobbs decision by the US Supreme Court, now relegates reproductive justice to state legislatures and their respective courts, with myriad caveats and restrictions that are certainly not in the best interests of constituent women, and certainly not reflective of any true form of liberty and justice for half the nation’s population. In my previous interview with Attorney and Women’s Rights Advocate prior to the Dobbs ruling, Attorney Wendy Murphy, recounted how courts had been treating victims of sexual assault and abuse leading up to the #MeToo Movement, speaking about how and why the Equal Rights Amendment was never ratified - because women have been figuratively relegated to the back of the bus by the courts and legislators. We now see her reflections becoming a more stark reality.
More Information
To learn more about the real effect the Dobbs decision has today on American women, tune into our discussions with Attorneys Lynn Hecht Schafran and Azaleea Carlea from the watchdog advocacy organization Legal Momentum, and also see our interview with legendary Attorney Jim Brosnahan & Judge Carol Brosnahan on Women and the Law - Then and Now.
Click here for our video programming on Women’s Healthcare post Dobbs, with advocates and attorneys from Legal Momentum.
Stay tuned for these discussions and more in our ‘upcoming’ Podcasts!
Copyright 2024, Mary Kay Elloian, MBA, JD, Esq. All Rights Reserved.
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