Reproductive Rights Panel Discussion

02 Mar @ 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Location: Multipurpose Room and Zoom (Zoom link will be provided in advance of the event)

Temple Emanuel will kick off Women’s History Month with a panel discussion on reproductive rights which will explore the legal, medical and social landscape for reproductive rights in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, and address opportunities for advocacy at the national and local level. The panel will be moderated by Judy Eskin, congregant and co-leader of the Greater Andover chapter of Indivisible, part of the Indivisible Mass Coalition. Panelists include Carrie Baker, attorney and Chair of the Program for the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality at Smith College; Dr. Andrea Polonsky, Andover-based obstetrician/gynecologist and congregant; Jennifer McKenna, Senior Advisor at Reproductive Health & Freedom Watch; and Abby Fisher, co-chair of the Massachusetts chapter of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC-MA) and board member of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ). Light refreshments will be served. Sponsored by the Social Responsibility Committee.

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About our Panelists:

• Carrie N. Baker, J.D., Ph.D., Bauman Professor of American Studies and Chair of the Program for the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality at Smith College. Her research and teaching focus on gender, law, public policy, and feminist social movements. Baker has written five books, including her recent open access book, Abortion Pills: U.S. History and Politics (Amherst College Press) which will be available for purchase.
• Andrea B. Polonsky, MD, FACOG, an Andover-based obstetrician/gynecologist, and graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School who recently earned an Integrative Medicine fellowship through the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine. Her practice, with four offices in the Merrimack Valley, focuses on Women’s Integrative Health Care. Her clinical interests include menopausal health, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), and management of abnormal menses.
• Jenifer McKenna is a Senior Advisor at Reproductive Health & Freedom Watch, investigating and exposing disinformation and regressive policy on reproductive and maternal health. She co-founded and was Managing Director of California Women’s Law Center and served as coordinator of The Alliance: State Advocates for Women’s Rights & Gender Equality, a collaboration dedicated to advancing reproductive and gender justice. Jenifer led the first multi-state investigation into crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) and co-authored Designed to Deceive: A Study of the Crisis Pregnancy Center Industry in Nine States.
• Abigail Fisher graduated from Swarthmore College with a BA in biology and a minor in religion and subsequently earned a PhD in cell biology from MIT and a master’s degree in Jewish studies from Hebrew College. She is currently the lay co-chair of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC-MA) and serves on the North American Board of the Union of Reform Judaism (URJ) and the New England Regional Council of the New Israel Fund.