CRR Student Policy Advocacy Award – University of Washington School of Law, Law Students for Reproductive Justice
The CRR Student Policy Advocacy 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 the University of Washington School of Law chapter of Law Students for Reproductive Justice.
UW Law Students for Reproductive Justice is dedicated to the promotion of reproductive rights and social justice within the University of Washington law school community and beyond. Their organization educates, organizes, and supports law students to prepare a new generation of advocates to protect and expand reproductive rights as fundamental civil and human rights.
Of particular note is UW LSJR’s involvement in the movement to ban the shackling of pregnant women. Last year, the Governor of Washington signed into law HB 2747 which bans the use of restraints on female inmates in labor or post-partum recovery, making Washington only the 7th state in the nation to pass anti-shackling legislation. UW LSRJ supported this initiative in their community by hosting a panel discussion on how shackling must come to an end in Washington and beyond. Panelists represented a multi-level approach to fighting reproductive oppression and advancing the well-being of women and girls. Panelists also used the practice of shackling as a catalyst to discuss the issues of race and poverty as an underlying cause for the over incarceration of women, a vast majority who are non-violent.
We at the Center for Reproductive Rights believe that reproductive rights policy advocacy, including the work happening on the UW Law campus, deserves to be recognized and encouraged. For these reasons, we commend the UW chapter of Law Students for Reproductive Justice and are pleased to present them with 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 CRR, launched in 2008 and was created to help support and invigorate scholarship and teaching about reproductive rights in law schools.