Law and Gender Commons^™

Religious Victory Over The Affordable Care Act? Possible Recourse For The Employee Of The Religious Employer, Jacqueline Prats

Jacqueline M Prats

In 2012, the Supreme Court upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). Even as the Court deliberated, a number of for-profit employers prepared to challenge the law—not the Act as a whole, but a specific part: the requirement that insurance plans cover contraceptives for women, free of co-pay or other cost-sharing. Although their companies were secular, these business owners claimed that the “contraception mandate” violated not only their religious beliefs, but also those of their companies. They challenged the ACA under both the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and a federal statute called the Religious Freedom …

The Concept Of Person In The Law, Charles Baron

Charles H. Baron

The focus of the abortion debate in the United States tends to be on whether and at what stage a fetus is a person. I believe this tendency has been unfortunate and counterproductive. Instead of advancing dialogue between opposing sides, such a focus seems to have stunted it, leaving advocates in the sort of “I did not!” – “You did too!” impasse we remember from childhood. Also reminiscent of that childhood scene has been the vain attempt to break the impasse by appeal to a higher authority. Thus, the pro-choice forces hoped they had proved the pro-life forces “wrong” by …

Daddy Warriors: The Battle To Equalize Paternity Leave In The United States By Breaking Gender Stereotypes; A Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Analysis, Abraham Z. Melamed

Abraham Z Melamed

No abstract provided.

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Who Are You To Say Who Is Fairest Of Them All?, Ashley R. Brown

Ashley R Brown

No abstract provided.

The Issue Is Being Intersex: The Current Standard Of Care Is A Result Of Ignorance, And It Is Amazing What A Little Analysis Can Conclude., Marla J. Ferguson

marla j ferguson

The Constitution was written to protect and empower all citizens of the United States, including those who are born with Disorders of Sex Development. The medical community, as a whole, is not equipped with the knowledge required to adequately diagnose or treat intersex babies. Intersex simply means that the baby is born with both male and female genitalia. The current method that doctors follow is to choose a sex to assign the baby, and preform irreversible surgery on them without informed consent. Ultimately the intersex babies are mutilated and robbed of many of their fundamental rights; most notably, the right …

Fetal Personhood Laws As Limits To Maternal Personhood At Any Stage Of Pregnancy: Balancing Fetal & Maternal Interests At Post-Viability Among Fetal Pain & Fetal Homicide Laws, Bernice M. Bird

Bernice M. Bird

Collectively, fetal pain and homicide laws serve to effectively diminish maternal personhood at any stage of pregnancy. At pre-viability, fetal pain laws unconstitutionally infringe on women’s right to reproduce without state interference, as reaffirmed in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey. In tandem, at post-viability, fetal homicide laws act as undue burdens because the laws lack life or health exceptions to maternal prosecution for the death of the fetus. Ultimately, both types of laws encroach on women's liberty interests to continue or terminate pregnancies at all stages. This paper proposes that state fetal pain and homicide laws should only …

Sex Is Less Offensive Than Violence: A Call To Update Obscenity Jurisprudence, Rachel Simon

Rachel Simon

This article addresses the gender bias presented by the disparate treatment of sex and violence under current obscenity jurisprudence. Under the controlling standard set forth by the Supreme Court in Miller v. California, sexual works may readily be regulated as obscenity, while violent works unequivocally may not. This article posits that this disparate treatment is the product of entrenched stereotypes about the way men and women “should” react to sex and violence, and notes the hypocrisy of failing to apply the same reasoning to assessments of violent versus sexual material.

First, reliance on “community standards” to define what material …

Which Is Greater: The Right To Parent Or The Rights Of A Parent? The Legal And Ethical Quandaries When A Minor Child Diagnosed With Cancer Wishes To Utilize Oocyte Cryopreservation And Advanced Reproductive Technology For Future Procreation., Jessica M. Hallgren

Jessica M Hallgren

No abstract provided.

Deadly Dicta: Roe’S “Unwanted Motherhood”, Gonzales’S “Women’S Regret” And The Shifting Narrative Of Abortion Jurisprudence, Stacy A. Scaldo

Stacy A Scaldo

For thirty-four years, the narrative of Supreme Court jurisprudence on the issue of abortion was firmly focused on the pregnant woman. From the initial finding that the right to an abortion stemmed from a constitutional right to privacy[1], through the test applied and refined to determine when that right was abridged[2], to the striking of statutes found to over-regulate that right[3], the conversation from the Court’s perspective maintained a singular focus. Pro-life arguments focusing on the fetus as the equal or greater party of interest were systematically pushed aside by the Court.[4] The consequences of an unwanted pregnancy, or as …

Clear Depictions Promote Clear Decisions: Drafting Abortion Speech-And-Display Statutes That Pass First And Fourteenth Amendment Muster, Ryan J. Pulkrabek

Ryan J Pulkrabek

Several states have passed legislation requiring physicians to take, display, and describe an ultrasound to their patients who are seeking an abortion. These statutes have been challenged under both the Fourteenth and First Amendments because the statutes place burdens on women who seek abortion and compel physician speech. Courts are divided on these questions and state legislatures need guidance as they consider reform. This Article proposes a model "speech-and-display" statute that is both consistent with the Constitution and good public policy. This model statute is designed to protect the mental health of patients and the life of the unborn by …

From Sex For Please To Sex For Parenthood: How The Law Manufactures Mothers, Beth A. Burkstrand-Reid

Beth A. Burkstrand-Reid

As soon as sperm enter a woman, so do law and politics, or so the decades-long disputes surrounding abortion suggest. Now, however, renewed debates surrounding contraceptives show legal and political interference with women’s sexual and reproductive autonomy may actually precede the sperm. This Article argues that, increasingly, women even thinking about having sex are defined socially and legally as “mothers.” Via this broad definition of who is a “mother," the State extends its reach into women’s decision-making throughout their reproductive lifetime. This Article argues that the State simultaneously devalues women’s choices to have sex for pleasure, which this Article calls …