Oral

This session will review a number of perinatal justice strategies which serve to safeguard the health and humanity of pregnant women, including efforts to decrease the expansion of the child welfare regime to police women’s pregnancies; legitimize birth choices as legitimate medical decisions; increase mandatory reporting of maternity care utilization rates; expand the reproductive justice (rather than reproductive rights) framework for creating healthy communities for pregnant and birthing women; organize and build birth activism coalitions despite fierce bipartisanship; and increase awareness of legal blocks to safe maternity care (e.g., vaginal birth after cesarean bans and efforts to sever the bonds between a pregnant woman and the baby she carries). Panelists represent a private law firm and four advocacy organizations: National Advocates for Pregnant Women, The Unnecesarean, Legal Advocates for Birth Options and Rights, and The Big Push for Midwives Campaign.

Session Objectives: 1. Identify perinatal justice strategies. 2. Describe efforts to police pregnant women's bodies. 3. Differentiate between the reproductive rights and reproductive justice approaches to activism.

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH) , Masters Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES)