Online Webinar – My Body, My Rights, Our Fight: Defending Reproductive Freedom

Indeed, the global landscape of sexual and reproductive rights (SRR) is facing unprecedented challenges. While progress has been made in some countries, a concerning trend of restrictive legislation and judicial decisions is threatening women's autonomy and access to essential healthcare that can amount to torture or other ill-treatment. As patriarchal forces push back against gender equality, the space to advocate for sexual and reproductive rights is shrinking, with increasing restrictions on protest and public advocacy.

Our four panellists, activists, academics and litigators, will discuss the systemic challenges human rights defenders face and strategic activism driving the fight for reproductive justice. By examining individual country cases, this event aims at providing a nuanced and full understanding of the growing tactics used to restrict SRR and the powerful resistance led by organisations and activists to counter them.

Panellists

• Elżbieta Korolczuk (Poland): Professor, PhD in sociology working at the American Studies Center, Warsaw University and at Södertörn University in Stockholm.
  Her research interests involve social movements, politics of reproduction as well as right-wing populism and mobilizations against “gender”. Among her publications are two volumes on social movements and civil society in Central Eastern Europe: Civil Society Revisited: Lessons from Poland co-edited with Kerstin Jacobsson (Berghahn Books, 2017), Rebellious Parents. Parental Movements in Central-Eastern Europe and Russia co-edited with Katalin Fábián (Indiana University Press, 2017), as well as a monograph Anti-gender Politics in the Populist Moment written with Agnieszka Graff (2021, Routledge), which received The Bronislaw Malinowski Award in the Social Sciences from the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America in 2022. She is also a commentator and a long-time women’s and human rights activist.

• Gulzada Serzhan (Kazakhstan): Co-founder of Kazakhstan feminist initiative "Feminita" and lesbian feminist activist.
  She has been an advocate for LBQT (lesbian, bisexual, queer and transgender women) rights in Kazakhstan since 2014. Gulzada Serzhan has a Master's degree in Economic Theory and is an IT specialist. She also is a co-Chair of the Board of EuroCentralAsian Lesbian* Community and board member of "Anora" Centralasian LBQT feminist network.

• Alexandra Willingham (United States): Fellow, U.S. Litigation at the Center for Reproductive Rights.
  Alexandra litigates across the United States to defend and expand reproductive rights and access. Her current cases include enforcing Michigan’s constitutional referendum enshrining reproductive freedom, challenging the scope of life exceptions in Idaho and Tennessee, and a recent victory ensuring state Medicaid coverage for abortion in Montana. Prior to joining the Center, Alexandra clerked on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and in the Eastern District of New York and litigated civil rights and commercial cases in state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. A U.S./U.K. dual national, she holds a J.D. from Stanford University and a B.A. in history from Swarthmore College.

• Fernanda Vanegas (Colombia): Associate Director, Advocacy & External Relations, (LAC) Center for Reproductive Rights.
  Fernanda is a specialist in women's and girls' rights in the region, she holds Colombian, French, and Guatemalan nationalities. She has led technical work on research, publications, and advisory services for international organizations, States, and Governments on women's rights in numerous countries across the region. Previously, she was a specialist consultant on women's rights and gender-based violence for the Inter- American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), UN Women, the World Bank, the Follow-up Mechanism to the Belém do Pará Convention (MESECVI), and other entities of the Organization of American States (OAS). She is a political scientist, has been certified in International Law and Women’s Right to Health by Stanford University, and holds a Master’s degree in International Relations and International Public Management from the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po).

The event will be moderated by Isabel Rosales: Director of the Human Rights Defenders Programme at the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT).

This event will be held online and in English on 25 March 2025 at 16:30 (Central European Tim. To attend the free event, registration via Zoom is mandatory.