Teaching Reproductive Justice After Dobbs: A Forum

[...]that's because we have this really strong social safety net [audience laughter] that supports our pregnant people and protects their rights and interests [audience laughter], laws like the Family Medical Leave Act, giving someone time off work without pay or the Affordable Care Act, giving people the right to pay for health care services. What a shield law seeks to do, though it hasn't been tested yet in any court, is to keep states from extraditing providers or others who are not fleeing from justice, shield them from civil penalties, from criminal sanction and prosecution, stop depositions, stop investigations, and protect their medical malpractice insurance and protect them from discipline in their own state. There are significant limitations to shield laws: for one, the Massachusetts provider that has a shield law in place can't step foot in Texas and expect the Massachusetts law to protect them. Or the conflict between federal law and state law, as the EMTALA example illustrates? Aziza Ahmed, Professor of Law, N. Neil Pike Scholar, and co-director of the BU Law Program in Reproductive Justice at Boston University School of Law: I teach Reproductive Rights and Justice, Constitutional Law, and Human Rights.