Center for Reproductive Rights Announces Innovation in Scholarship Award
Congratulations to the Harvard Law Students for Reproductive Justice
(PRESS RELEASE) The Law School Initiative at the Center for Reproductive Rights is pleased to announce the CRR Student Policy Advocacy Award. This award recognizes policy advocacy by students within their schools and communities that advances the principle that reproductive rights are human rights which those in power must respect, protect, and fulfill. The award, a cash prize of $250, will be given on an ad hoc basis to student groups that are doing the hard work of supporting and advancing policies that reinforce reproductive rights.This semester, the Center is pleased to honor Harvard Law Students for Reproductive Justice.Harvard Law’s LSRJ chapter has been active since 2003 and is a vibrant campus organization which hosts numerous events, including this year’s “Wine, Cheese &, Condoms,” talk featuring Kim Gandy, former president of the National Organization for Women (NOW).Members of Harvard LSRJ have recently begun two important policy initiatives that the Center believes deserve special attention. First, the Harvard LSRJ has organized students to challenge a Harvard University policy that allows students to opt in to receive a refund for a portion of their health care costs that would otherwise cover abortion care (approximately $1). Harvard LSRJ is actively campaigning to convince the Dean of Health Services and other relevant campus authorities that this policy should be repealed.Second, Harvard LSRJ has championed the Harvard Law School Parenting Initiative, a school-wide project led by Harvard LSRJ and the Society for Life, Law, and Religion. In the spring semester, the Initiative investigated what the law school was doing to support pregnant and parenting students, delineated areas for improvement, and advocated around those issues.We at the Center for Reproductive Rights believe that reproductive rights policy advocacy, including the work now happening on the Harvard Law campus, deserves to be recognized and encouraged. For these reasons, we commend the Harvard chapter of Law Students for Reproductive Justice and are please to award them the CRR Student Policy Advocacy Award.The Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) is a global human rights organization that works in over 50 countries to use the law to advance reproductive freedom as a fundamental human right that all governments are legally obligated to protect, respect, and fulfill. The Law School Initiative (LSI) at the CRR, launched in 2008, was created to help support and invigorate scholarship and teaching about reproductive rights in law schools.