Women’s Rights
The Forgotten Child Bride in the United States
December 1, 2022
In this blog post, staffer Rachel Emendorfer discusses child marriage in the United States, the current landscape of legal issues surrounding marriages involving minors, and the specific impact child marriage has on young girls.
Continue ReadingState v. Khalil: How a Minnesota Supreme Court Ruling Led to the Amendment of a Minnesota Criminal Sexual Conduct Statute
February 6, 2023
In this blog post, staff member Remy Bell explores how the case of State v. Khalil impacted Minnesota’s criminal sexual conduct statute.
Continue ReadingReason-Specific Abortion Bans Under Current Abortion Jurisprudence
March 13, 2023
View/Download PDF Version By Jocelyn Rimes† Introduction In 2021 alone, 108 restrictions on abortion were enacted in just nineteen states.[1] With the recent Supreme Court decision, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, that eliminated the federal constitutional right to obtain an abortion, abortion access is in a perilous position for millions of individuals.[2] Currently, ten…
Continue ReadingThe Right to Choose From An Empty Shelf: Anti-Abortionists Sue to Remove FDA Approval of Crucial Medication
March 28, 2023
Staff Member Bethany Jewison analyzes a recent lawsuit where multiple anti-abortion organizations seek to repeal the FDA’s approval of an important abortion drug, mifepristone.
Continue Reading“Mind Your Own Damn Business”: Why Governor Walz Is Right that The Right to Control Your Body Should Not Be Based on Geography
October 19, 2024
By: Claire Cavanagh View/Download PDF Version: _Mind Your Own Damn Business_ – Why Governor Walz Is Right that The Right to Control Your Body Should Not Be Based on Geography (Cavanagh) Minnesota Governor, Tim Walz (Walz), has been selected as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate. Throughout the campaign, especially during the vice presidential…
Continue ReadingProscribing Prescriptions: A Legal Analysis of State Off-Label Restrictions on Medication Abortion
November 21, 2016
by Kaiya A. Lyons
Since its decision in Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court has consistently upheld the right of a woman to choose to terminate a pregnancy before viability and without undue burden. However, the ability of a woman to exercise that right today is as intimately connected to her economic privilege and geographic location as it was in the days preceding that landmark ruling. Under the guise of protecting women from the “harms inherent in abortion,” major conservative gains in the 2010 midterm elections resulted in hundreds of anti-abortion measures flooding a majority of state legislatures. In the aftermath of that year’s midterm elections, the bulk of state legislatures passed an unprecedented number of harsh new restrictions on when, how, and even whether women may access abortion services. Because these laws are also substantially more obstructive than their predecessors, for low-income women, the economic impact of these restrictive regulations is extremely harmful.
Domestic violence and other gender-related issues during COVID-19 – Interview with Prof. June Carbone
April 24, 2020
JLI’s Editor-in-Chief, Navin Ramalingam, and Executive Editor, Abby Rauls, sit down with Prof. June Carbone, family law professor and faculty advisor for the journal, for the first in a series of video interviews for Inequality Inquiry with the faculty, practitioners and other legal experts about a variety of issues affecting law and inequality during COVID-19. They discuss the gendered dynamics surrounding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Topics include the effect of quarantine on families and couples who are having to stay at home together, gender discrepancies in the “essential” workforce, funding of the healthcare system, and possible recourse for those who may be facing higher levels of domestic abuse and violence during these turbulent times.
Continue ReadingAttacks on Reproductive Rights During COVID-19—Interview with Gender Justice’s Megan Peterson
May 7, 2020
JLI staff members Kristin Trapp, Anna Berglund, and Anwen Parrott recently interviewed Megan Peterson, who serves as the Executive Director of Gender Justice. Gender Justice is a nonprofit legal and policy advocacy organization devoted to addressing the causes and consequences of gender inequality, both locally and nationally. In this conversation, the group discussed how some states are trying to use COVID-19 to restrict access to abortion and reproductive services, the effects of not being able to access essential health care, and how advocates can strive to safeguard reproductive rights during a pandemic.
Continue ReadingThe Long Scalpel of the Law: How United States Prisons Continue to Practice Eugenics Through Forced Sterilization
June 7, 2021
Brenna Evans* The modern discussion of reproductive rights—especially surrounding women’s reproductive rights—often focuses on the idea of the right not to reproduce, such as the right to abortion or the right to birth control.[1] However, one topic that seems to be left out of discussion is that of people who have had their ability to…
Continue ReadingThe Shadow of Buck v. Bell: How Ignoring the United States’ History of Forced Sterilization Has Fostered an Environment Ambivalent to Widespread Abuse
November 11, 2021
by Mercedes Molina* Since Buck v. Bell was decided in 1927, approximately 70,000 people have been legally forcibly sterilized. The legal framework put in place by that infamous 1927 case still exists, despite the repeal of most state’s compulsory sterilization laws.
Continue ReadingWhere is the U.S. Military?: An Update on the Department of Defense’s Efforts to Prevent Sexual Assault and to Protect Victims
November 17, 2021
by Thor Hawrey* Currently, a female military member is more likely to get post-traumatic stress disorder from being sexually assaulted or harassed than from actual combat. Due to this trauma, as well as the many other complex reasons associated with sexual assault, many victims feel trapped, have suicidal thoughts, and opt to leave the military. Those who desire to serve and protect us must forfeit their careers due to an inability for us to protect them.
Continue ReadingIt’s Time to End the Use of Race & Gender Statistics in Damage Award Calculations
January 27, 2022
By Joe Scanlon* At first glance, the use of race and gender-based statistics may appear to be a neutral, data-driven approach, and defenders of the tactic say it is the most accurate way to calculate the losses incurred after an injury. In reality, however, the practice unjustly devalues the lives of racial minorities and women.
Continue ReadingA Healthy Start: Minnesota Is Pioneering an Alternative to Prison Nurseries, and Other States Should Follow Its Lead
March 28, 2022
by Rachel Pokrzywinski* In May 2021, Governor Tim Walz signed Minnesota’s Healthy Start Act (HSA) into law. The first of its kind in the United States, the HSA authorizes placement of pregnant and postpartum inmates into alternative housing—such as halfway houses and residential treatment facilities—with their newborns for up to one year after birth.…
Continue ReadingDiscriminating Against Survivors of Domestic Violence as Sex-Based Discrimination Under Title VII
April 6, 2022
By Kendra Saathoff* Discriminating against a woman for being a victim of domestic violence is sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Domestic violence is a workplace issue, whether from an abuser threatening an office and the workers in it or because a survivor needs to miss work to ensure she…
Continue ReadingAbortion Asylees: Is There Still a Path Forward After Dobbs?
October 30, 2022
In this blog, JLI’s Lead Online Editor Madelyn Cox-Guerra analyzes the impact of the overturning of Roe v. Wade on asylum-seekers who come to the United States.
Continue Reading