Brown Bag Lunch Conversation: On Reproductive Rights, Activism, and Contestation

On 4 April, the Gender, Diversity & Global Justice Platform organises the next Brown Bag Lunch Conversation titled ‘On Reproductive Rights, Activism, and Contestation’.

A changing landscape

This Brown Bag Lunch Conversation focuses on the question of reproduction, reproductive rights, resistance, and contestation from an interdisciplinary perspective. After decades of increasing sexual reproductive rights, the controversy surrounding abortion has been reignited by the rise of right-wing conservatism across Europe.

The overturn of Roe v. Wade in the United States, as well as an insurgence of conservative politics more generally, has brought the conversation of abortion and the legal frameworks of reproductive rights to the forefront again. Advocates and opponents of abortion are increasingly engaging in forms of spatial contestation like marches or clinic blockades to influence reproductive policies and reshape abortion access across the continent.

First, Lisette ten Haaf (Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance, Utrecht University), will focus on assisted reproductive technologies (ART) from the perspective of the aspirant-parents and how access to ART is regulated in the Netherlands. Second, Elisa Fiore (Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University) will use the Netherlands and Italy as case studies to explore the role of activism in the changing landscape of abortion access in Europe.

Gender, Diversity, and Global Justice Platform

The main aim of the Gender, Diversity and Global Justice Platform is to serve as a platform for stakeholders to (1) access the multidisciplinary expertise of UU scholars in gender, diversity, and processes of in- and exclusion, and (2) to join forces with societal partners in solving complex gender and diversity issues and develop strategies for the implementation of diversity in order to achieve societal inclusion and change.

The Platform is chaired by Linda Senden (Law), Sandra Ponzanesi (Humanities), Alexandra Timmer (Law), Eva Midden (Humanities), and Marielle Zill (Geoscience). The Platform is coordinated by Diana Helmich (Humanities).