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If/When/How’s Quick Question series highlights the work of our Reproductive Justice Fellows, introducing our network to the incredible advocates who are dedicating their lives to the movement to lawyer for reproductive justice. We’re so proud of the work they’re doing at placement organizations across the country to ensure that everyone can safely decide if, when, and how to create and sustain their families and actualize sexual and reproductive well-being on their own terms. But we can’t support them without you: Please donate $10 to help us give aspiring and new lawyers the resources they need to thrive. And if you can’t give — share!

Nina Haug (NYU School of Law ’22) has spent most of her adult life existing in and cultivating strong communities. In law school, she has been a Women’s Leadership Fellow with the Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network, where she’s found one of her most meaningful support networks. She has been both a staff editor and a board member of the NYU Review of Law and Social Change as a Community Education and Accessibility Co-Chair. Nina has been a 2L and 3L Representative on the NYU Law Student Bar Association, where she has served as a Co-Chair of the Advocacy Committee both terms. Throughout her time in law school, Nina has worked to bring the voices of students, particularly those who are historically underrepresented in law schools, to law school administrators.

Nina has also been a student advocate in the NYU Law Reproductive Justice Clinic and the NYU Law LGBTQ Rights Externship, which have allowed her to do meaningful legal work on behalf of communities she belongs to outside of law school. Over the summers, Nina interned first with the Center for Economic and Social Rights as an International Law and Human Rights Fellow and then with the City Bar Justice Center’s Federal Pro Se Legal Assistance Project in the Eastern District of New York.

Prior to law school, Nina was a Eugene McDermott Scholar at the University of Texas at Dallas. She then studied history for several years at UC Berkeley before leaving for law school. She is originally from south Louisiana and spent her 2L year zooming into law school from south Louisiana. She is looking forward to returning to the South to do reproductive justice work next year, and she hopes to continue to do this work in the South in the future.

We asked Nina to tell us a little about herself as she prepares to begin her Reproductive Justice Fellowship year at Women Engaged in Atlanta, GA, this fall.

If/When/How: Who are you?

Nina Haug: My name is Nina Louise Haug, and my pronouns are she/her/hers.

If/When/How: Where are you from?

NH: I’m from Saint Rose, Louisiana, just outside of New Orleans! I was an undergrad at the University of Texas at Dallas and then spent a few years in grad school in the Bay Area before coming to NYU for law school.

If/When/How: Where are you going (literally or existentially)?

NH: Next year, I will be an If/When/How State Policy Fellow at Women Engaged in Atlanta, Georgia. In a more existential sense… like all of us, I’m going into a murky future where the right to privacy is under attack. None of us know what the next few months hold for reproductive rights or LGBTQ+ rights, much less what the next few years will hold for the broader reproductive justice movement. I hope that through this fellowship, I’m going into a community of lawyers who are dedicated to advancing reproductive justice and progressive policies, regardless of what the broader legal landscape looks like.

If/When/How: What drew you to reproductive justice work?

NH: I was diagnosed with endometriosis roughly five years ago, after living with symptoms for nearly eight years before my diagnosis. In addition to the ongoing pain of endo, I know that 30-50% of people with endometriosis face infertility. While my reproductive choices have been limited by my health, I don’t think anyone’s reproductive autonomy should be limited by our state governments, financial status, or ability to access care. My own reproductive health experiences as a queer, chronically ill woman from the Deep South drew me to the reproductive justice framework. I am especially compelled by the reproductive justice framework’s intersectional focus on racial justice, environmental justice, economic justice, disability justice, and LGBTQ+ rights.

If/When/How: When you are not lawyering, what do you get up to?

NH: I love to bake! During law school, I learned how to make macarons, croissants, donuts, homemade pop tarts, and more. I also learned how to decorate cakes, and I’ll seize any excuse to make a fancy cake! In addition, I love wandering around Brooklyn with my dog, Tula, or snuggling up with her and my cat, Etta, to watch bad TV or read good novels.

If you’re as excited as we are to see Nina succeed, donate $10 to help If/When/How support new lawyers like her.