Call for Papers: Intersections in Reproduction:

Perspectives on Abortion, Assisted Reproductive Technologies,

and Judicial Review

Abortion and reproductive technologies have historically occupied separate realms in law, policy, and academia. In spite of some obvious and natural overlap, scholarship exploring the relationship between abortion and assisted reproduction is sparse. In 2014, Judith Daar (Whittier Law School) and Kimberly Mutcherson (Rutgers Law-Camden) will co-guest edit an issue of the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics devoted to articles reflecting on this relationship. JLME is a peer-reviewed journal published by the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics.

The guest editors are open to a wide range of scholarship from authors steeped in various aspects of reproductive justice, reproductive rights and reproductive technologies who can explore the future of assisted reproduction and abortion as matters of scholarly concern and legal regulation, especially when viewed as part of a larger movement for reproductive rights and reproductive justice. The term reproductive technologies should be interpreted broadly in this context to go beyond IVF and include a range of techniques used in conjunction with assisted methods of conception.

Questions papers might choose to tackle include, but are in no way limited to:

• What is the relationship between the right to create a pregnancy through assisted reproduction and the right to terminate a pregnancy?  Papers could explore constitutional groundings for the rights, similarities and differences in how the rights have or should evolve, and how these potentially evolving rights can or should impact each other.
• What common ground and common cause can be found between those who advocate on behalf of people who use assisted reproductive technology and women who want to terminate pregnancies?
• What is the role of stigma in controlling women’s reproductive choices in these two areas and how does stigma in one area impact another?  For example, how does stigma directed at women working as surrogates relate to stigma directed towards women who terminate a pregnancy?
• What is the relationship between paternalist justifications for the regulation of assisted reproductive technology and paternalist justifications for the regulation of decision making about terminating pregnancies?
• How has technology influenced women’s choices and autonomy in reproductive decision-making, either in creating or ending embryonic life, and how does it impact judicial review of these decisions?

Special consideration will be given to writing that explores connections, disconnections, and contradictions in how law, public policy, and ethics understand abortion and how those arenas understand assisted reproduction. Final papers should be ten-twenty pages, including endnotes.

On April 17-18, 2014, as a prelude to the special issue, the Program for the Study of Reproductive Justice at Yale Law School will host a workshop to discuss papers that have been preliminarily selected for publication in the special issue of JLME, and potentially additional papers that explore these themes.  Post-workshop, authors will have time to revise their papers for purposes of publication in the special issue or for potential placement elsewhere.

To be considered for inclusion in this special issue and the workshop in April, please send an abstract of no more 500 words to Judith Daar (jdaar@law.whittier.edu) and Kim Mutcherson (mutchers@camden.rutgers.edu) by November 18, 2013. Authors who are selected for inclusion in the volume and/or the workshop will be notified no later than December 13, 2013. Drafts of papers for the workshop will be due by March 10, 2014. Final papers will be due to the editors by May 23, 2014.

If you have any questions about this CFP, please feel free to contact Judith Daar at jdaar@law.whittier.edu or Kimberly Mutcherson at mutchers@camden.rutgers.edu.