Documentary film PERSONHOOD is Awarded the 2020 ABA Silver Gavel Award!

Exciting News!!

Personhood, a feature documentary film, has been awarded the American Bar Association's 2020 Silver Gavel Award for Media and the Arts. PERSONHOOD focuses on the case of Tamara Loertscher, who brought a federal lawsuit challenging Wisconsin’s Unborn Child Protection Act (Act 292) with Pregnancy Justice, the NYU School of Law Reproductive Justice Clinic, and Perkins-Coie as her lawyers.

Lynn M. Paltrow Discusses Rinat Dray’s Case During Staten Island Panel

Some New Yorkers think that attacks on reproductive rights and health are confined to far-away places such as Alabama and Tennessee. But right here in New York City, a hospital is arguing and courts are so far accepting the idea that there is a point in pregnancy when patients lose their rights to bodily integrity and medical decision-making.

Demanding Respectful Birth on Staten Island

Some New Yorkers think that attacks on reproductive rights and health are confined to far-away places such as Alabama and Tennessee. But right here in New York City, a hospital is arguing and courts are so far accepting the idea that there is a point in pregnancy when patients lose their rights to bodily integrity and medical decision-making.

CNN’s United Shades of America featuring Pregnancy Justice Senior Staff Attorney Aarin M. Williams Wins an Emmy Award!

Pregnancy Justice Senior Staff Attorney Aarin M. Williams appeared on CNN's "United Shades of America" where she spoke with W. Kamau Bell about intersectionality and reproductive justice and health. She explained, "If you want healthy babies then you have to take care of the woman.

Pregnancy Justice Open Letter to Oklahoma DA opposing targeted prosecutions of pregnant people (Sept. 2018)

Oklahoma District Attorney Craig Ladd publicly announced [in December 2017] that he is calling for the increased prosecution of women who are pregnant and alleged to have used controlled substances, despite his knowledge that such prosecutions are not legally supported.

Rinat Dray Decision Proves How Hard it is for Women Subjected to Forced Surgeries to Get Justice

On April 4, 2018, a mid-level New York appeals court ruled against Rinat Dray, reminding us of the enormous challenges women face when they seek redress for obstetric violence through the court system.

In this case Ms. Dray had gone to Staten Island University Hospital to deliver her third child.

Arkansas Court of Appeals Overturns Criminal Conviction for Concealing a Birth

March 14, 2018

The Arkansas Court of Appeals has issued a unanimous ruling reversing Anne Bynum’s conviction for “concealing a birth” that resulted in a sentence of six years in prison. The criminal charge and conviction stemmed from the state’s claims about Ms. Bynum’s actions after she experienced a stillbirth at home in 2015. The three-judge panel found that the trial court in Drew County had abused its discretion by allowing the jury to consider evidence about Ms. Bynum’s past pregnancies and outcomes including abortion, that “clearly prejudiced” the verdict in the case.

Pregnancy Justice Argues in Arkansas Court of Appeals in Case of Woman Charged with Crimes After Stillbirth

On January 24, 2018, Pregnancy Justice consulting attorney Dan Arshack argued before the Arkansas Court of Appeals on behalf of Anne Bynum, a woman who experienced a stillbirth at home and was convicted for "concealing a birth" and sentenced to six years in prison after she was alleged to have waited several hours to bring the fetal remains to the hospital and did not tell her mother about her pregnancy.