The Age of Roe: Voices from the Front Lines

Harvard Radcliffe Institute held a major public conference January 26–27, 2023, to probe the complex and unpredictable ways that Roe v. Wade and its aftermath shaped the United States and the world beyond it for nearly half a century. The existential issue of abortion—and the galvanizing impact of Roe in particular—transformed the nation’s politics and public policy and its social movement energies, as well as the operations of the courtroom and the clinic.

This opening session of the conference featured speakers with a range of perspectives from the front lines of debates about abortion, birth, and birth disparities. Each told stories from their work and talked about the work of stories in their own social movement and thought leadership.

Program
Thursday, January 26, 2023

0:00 Welcome
Jane Kamensky, Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Director, Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Harvard Radcliffe Institute, and Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences

4:28 Framing Remarks
Michele Bratcher Goodwin, Chancellor’s Professor of Law and founding director, Center for Biotechnology and Global Health Policy, University of California, Irvine School of Law

Presentations
20:32 Renee Bracey Sherman, founder and executive director, We Testify
36:36 Catherine Davis, founder and president, The Restoration Project
48:46 Getty Israel, founder and CEO, Sisters in Birth, Inc.

1:04:48 Moderated Conversation with Speakers
Moderator: Michele Bratcher Goodwin

Close of Program
Jane Kamensky