Everything That Doctors Want to Know About Reproductive Rights Litigation, But Are Too Afraid to Ask

Event Description

Current and past abortion legislation and court rulings have profound effects on health care providers’ ability to care for their patients. However, media coverage of abortion in the U.S. typically is not geared toward an audience of health care professionals. Health care providers are thus left on their own to grapple with questions of what they can or cannot do within the scope of ever-changing law and policy. This event aims to address that gap, answering the questions health care providers might have about legal doctrine around abortion and what it means for their practice. Bioethicist and obstetrician/gynecologist Louise Perkins King and Mary Ziegler, law professor and historian of abortion, also will discuss the current case before the Supreme Court that threatens to overturn Roe v. Wade, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, and the effects of the anticipated ruling.

Panelists

• Introduction: Carmel Shachar, Executive Director, Petrie-Flom Center
• Louise Perkins King, Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology,  Harvard Medical School and Surgeon, Division of Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery, Brigham and Women’s
• Mary Ziegler, Stearns Weaver Miller Professor, Florida State University College of Law

Sponsored by the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School.