Womenstake, NWLC's Blog

by Jessica Lauredan, Outreach Intern
National Women’s Law Center

This post is the first in a weekly series profiling our blog authors.

Jill Morrison, Senior Counsel at NWLC, works with the Health and Reproductive Rights team to secure full access to adequate health care for women and girls. 

Q: What’s the most rewarding part of your work?
Jill: I would say working with a community of people who ultimately all want to see a better world for women. It never fails to astound me that I have the privilege to contribute in some small way and to work with such bright, smart, talented women. I thrive on this environment of social justice for women. This is my dream job. 

Q: What do you hope to accomplish?
Jill: Making this world a place where women can go as far as their talents and desires will take them. Giving women equal opportunities. But this can’t happen without a just society that promotes women to do so.

Q: What are the most common misconceptions about feminism you encounter?
Jill: That feminists are all man-hating, angry, reactionary, bitter women. That’s not true — only some of us are.

No, I would have to say the most common misconception is that feminism is dead.  So many women advance feminist ideals but don’t necessarily describe them that way. Feminism is alive and well.

Q: Much of your work focuses is on the impact of religious restrictions on health care. What would be the ideal balance between an individual’s religious beliefs and adequate, fair health care?
Jill: Well, I could write a book on that! I think Title VII strikes a pretty fair balance between religion and health care. It basically states that you can observe your religion and its practices so long as they do not interfere with your work. So if your religion prohibits you from dispensing birth control, you should not be the only pharmacist on hand at any given pharmacy. It’s a patient’s right to receive that medication. On the other hand, if you wear a long, draping head covering which would make it dangerous to operate heavy machinery, it should be your employer’s right to ask you to remove it. Title VII is reasonable medium for both parties.

by Jill Morrison, Senior Counsel
National Women’s Law Center

Unless you’ve been under a rock, you’ve seen the latest alarming study about pregnancy: “coffee causes miscarriages!” Well, that is not exactly what the study said, but that certainly is the message you would get if you only saw the popular media coverage. 

by the Health and Reproductive Rights Team
National Women’s Law Center

Today is the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that secured abortion rights for women in the United States. Here at the National Women’s Law Center, we’ve been reflecting on what choice means to each of us.

When I was only 10 years old, my mother took me and my two sisters to a pro-choice march on the National Mall. As my mother bravely answered my question about the meaning of a coat hanger with a line through it, an image on many of the marchers’ signs, I learned the lengths to which women will go to end their pregnancies when abortion is not legal. Today, I support choice because I never want to return to the desperation that results when women lack control over their own bodies. — Jen

As an African-American woman, I take extreme offense at efforts to mobilize the black community to oppose abortion rights by invoking slavery. The essence of slavery is taking away someone’s power to make decisions about their own bodies, labor and lives. Sounds more like anti-choice thinking to me. Choice is freedom. — Jill

My commitment to the principle that women should make their own decisions about their bodies is longstanding and deep. So I was surprised when, after I adopted a child, some people questioned my commitment. How can you, an adoptive mother, who benefited because a woman chose not to have an abortion, support abortion? they said. My commitment is to the principle that the woman decides. I am so grateful for this birth mother's decision, but it is not for me or anyone else to make that decision for her. — Judy

Though a long-time supporter of the right to safe and legal abortion, I began to define “pro-choice” differently in those terrifying-yet-liberating days when I was coming out to my friends and family. Supporting choice is more than securing reproductive freedom; it is support for the right to determine our own life course, and to make major life decisions about marriage, sex, children, and family without interference and with the respect of others. — Brigette

What if everyone knew their rights and took precautions to improve their health? I grew up bouncing between the Middle East and South Asia where I witnessed innumerable communities unwilling to embrace reproductive and sexual health issues. Cultural taboo silenced topics such as pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, and contraception. My upbringing in these environments fueled my passion for and belief of reproductive choice. — Dina