By If/When/How
If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and the Center on Reproductive Rights and Justice invite submissions for the 18th annual Writing Prize for New Student Scholarship in Reproductive Rights & Justice.
More information on how to apply, the length and type of accepted submissions, and on the suggested theme for this year’s prize are available here. The submission deadline is 5:00 pm PT on Monday, November 18, 2024.
Winning authors will receive cash prizes: $750 (1st place), $500 (2nd place), or $250 (3rd place), and a copy of the textbook, Cases on Reproductive Rights and Justice (Murray & Luker). The first-place winning submission will also be granted a “presumption of publishability” and receive expedited review by the Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice.
The theme for this year is “How Can Reproductive Justice End Family Policing.” The post-Roe landscape has amplified the connection between attacks on reproductive autonomy and family integrity. More so than ever, people are being forced to remain pregnant and subsequently punished by the family policing system–or the so-called “child welfare” system– for raising children without the necessary support or resources. Rather than providing support, the family policing system acts as a site of reproductive coercion and control, particularly for Black, Latine, and Indigenous families, and other marginalized communities. We encourage students to envision creative and expansive approaches to ending family policing and securing the right to parent the children we have in safe communities, a fundamental tenant of the Reproductive Justice framework. Submissions might explore topics such as mandatory reporting, pre- or post-natal drug testing, other legal and policy approaches to curtailing the reach of the family policing system, and/or highlight critical intersections between reproductive justice and family regulation.
For reference, 2023 Writing Prize winners are available here.