James Bessen

The Reproductive Justice Practicum offers students the opportunity to engage in direct fieldwork addressing critical issues at the intersection of law, healthcare, and reproductive justice. Through partnerships with reproductive justice organizations, health clinics, advocacy groups, and legal organizations, students will develop practical legal skills while meaningfully contributing to the movement. Students can anticipate working on issues ranging from abortion access, maternal health equity, gender-affirming care, sex education, crisis pregnancy centers, and other pervasive issues communities face when accessing reproductive healthcare. The primary goals of the Reproductive Justice Practicum are to: (1) Understand and apply the reproductive justice framework to analyze legal and policy issues impacting reproductive healthcare access and bodily autonomy. (2) Develop practical legal and non-legal skills critical to reproductive justice advocacy. (3) Engage with community partners in culturally competent and trauma-informed ways. (4) Master the ability to critically analyze the intersections of race, class, gender, disability, and other identifies in reproductive health, law, and policy. (5) Contribute substantively to ongoing reproductive justice work in the field. Practicum fieldwork varies in both subject matter and skills development according to the goals of our community partners; however, students can anticipate engaging in any of the following: litigation, policy research and advocacy, legal research, public education, storytelling, and infrastructure/capacity building, among others. Under the Practicum director’s supervision, students will act as the lead attorneys on these projects and spend the semester establishing relationships with project partners, identify project goals, draft agreements, and execute projects. Through this process, students will develop professional identities, explore how they can most effectively show up for community partners, and better understand how to put into practice key principles of reproductive justice. NOTE: The Reproductive Justice Practicum counts towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.