Alistair Reader Interview

ACS interviews Boston Lawyer Chapter Co-President Alistair Reader at the 2015 National Convention. 

Kylie Oversen Interview

ACS interviews Kylie Oversen, UND Law School student and North Dakota state representative, at the 2015 ACS National Convention.

Jessica Smith Interview

ACS interviews Jessica Smith, the student member of the ACS Board and the president of the ACS Student Chapter at the Howard University School of Law. 

Megan Pulsts Interview

ACS interviews Megan Pulsts, a public defender and member of the ACS network, at the 2015 National Convention.

Undue Burdens

In its 1992 decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the fundamental right to an abortion while introducing a new "undue burden" standard that has since been used to analyze infringements on that right. However, current events demonstrate that the undue burden standard is not a one-size-fits-all protection against obstacles to abortion. Recent restrictions - such as laws imposing new requirements on medication abortion, laws that require doctors to perform medically unnecessary ultrasounds or read ideological "informed consent" scripts to patients, and TRAP laws that target abortion providers for unwarranted and burdensome regulation - cumulatively, and sometimes individually, threaten to shut down many or most clinics in large swaths of the country. These challenges present new legal questions, including how the First Amendment should protect the speech between a doctor and patient and whether states can arbitrarily treat abortion differently than other comparable medical procedures. In light of the current composition of the court, how can advocates best preserve the fundamental protections afforded in Roe and Casey? 
 
Speakers:
  • Jill Filipovic, Senior Political Writer, Cosmopolitan.com
  • Walter Dellinger, Partner, O'Melveny & Myers
  • Melissa Murray, Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley School of Law
  • Julie Rikelman, Litigation Director, Center for Reproductive Rights
  • Reva Siegel, Nicholas deB. Katzenbach Professor of Law, Yale Law School

Janson Wu Interview

ACS interviews Janson Wu, executive director of Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), at the 2015 National Convention.