The Duke Women’s Center kicked off 2023 Women’s History Month with a bang this year, hosting the Reproductive Justice Conference on Wednesday, March 8th, in Penn Pavilion. This year’s conference was a way to start a conversation about reproductive justice on Duke’s campus. To do this, students from all schools, degree programs, and walks of life were invited to be a part of the conversation and advance their understanding of reproductive justice in the world today. An all-star cast of speakers, panelists, and moderators, including Prof. Neil Siegel of Duke Law, who gave welcoming remarks, and Dr. Megan Huchko of the Duke Global Health Institute as keynote speaker, were in attendance.
In addition to speakers, student-moderated panels were held with content-matter experts on reproductive justice topics such as the intersections of faith, identity, and reproductive rights, and biomedical advancements in reproductive health care and access. The Women’s Center collaborated with Duke Global Health Institute, Pratt School of Engineering, and the student groups Progress Period and Planned Parenthood Generation Action to shape the conference programming. The goal was to invite all kinds of voices into the conversation around reproductive justice.
One participant described the conference as, “diverse not just in identity, but also in [the] perspective and framing for [reproductive justice] conversations as a whole.” Next year, the Women’s Center hopes to expand the aims of the conference by inviting students to showcase their work on reproductive and social justice topics, with the help of Duke’s Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies department. Reproductive justice is important, now more than ever, and by keeping conversation about these topics alive, we can keep our rights and maintain access to reproductive justice services in our state. To view the symposium program and learn more about who was featured, visit https://bit.ly/23reprogram.
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