Dr. Monica R. McLemore, PhD, MPH, RN
April 12, 2022
11:00 am – 12:30pm Pacific Daylight Time via Zoom

BARNARD CENTER FREE LECTURE SERIES

We are honored to host Dr. Monica McLemore as our guest lecturer for the Barnard Center Guest Lecture Series. Dr. McLemore will be sharing with us her insights on Operationalizing Reproductive Justice on April 12 at 11:00 PDT. The week of April 11 – April 17 is Black Maternal Health Week 2022. Please visit Black Mamas Matter Alliance for more information. https://blackmamasmatter.org/bmhw/.

Re-imagining What’s Possible: A Future Where Reproductive Justice is Achieved

In the current environment, much attention has been paid to the potential loss of the protections of Roe, reductions in Title X funding, and other reproductive rights gains over the last 50 years, as if those tepid and incremental advances were the best we could imagine. The purpose of this session is to honor the work that has been done toward health equity and to move beyond reproductive health and rights to reproductive justice. Participants will vision about the blueprint for reproductive justice and focus attention on what we should be working toward. Several of the following principles will be highlighted as part of the discussion in addition to actionable strategies to build a strong and sustainable foundation for the future.

Principle 1: Ensure that Sexual and Reproductive Health Care is Accessible to All People

• Promote Comprehensive Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Services Domestically
• Use United States Leadership to Advance Sexual and Reproductive Health Globally
• Protect and Expand Access to Abortion Care Domestically and Globally
• Improve and Expand Access to Pregnancy Care
• Ensure Access to Qualified Providers

Principle 2: Ensure Discriminatory Barriers in Health Care are Eliminated

• Guarantee Access to Health Care Services and Coverage for All People
• Ensure Patients are Not Refused Health Care
• End Barriers to Care for Young People
• End Discriminatory Treatment of Immigrants
• Ensure Access to Care for People in Detention Settings

Principle 3: Ensure that Research and Innovation Advance Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice Now and in the Future

• Invest in Health System Innovation that Promotes Sexual and Reproductive Health
• Invest in Research & Development that Promotes Sexual and Reproductive Health

Principle 4: Ensure Health, Rights, Justice, and Wellness for All Communities

Principle 5: Ensure Judges and Executive Officials Advance Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice

Monica R. McLemore PhD, MPH, RN
At the University of California, San Francisco, Monica McLemore is a tenured associate professor in the Family Health Care Nursing Department, an affiliated scientist with Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, and a member of the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health. She retired from clinical practice as a public health and staff nurse after a 28-year clinical nursing career in 2019, however, continues to provide flu and COVID-19 vaccines. Her program of research is focused on understanding reproductive health and justice. To date, she has 87 peer reviewed articles, OpEds and commentaries and her research has been cited in the Huffington Post, Lavender Health, five amicus briefs to the Supreme Court of the United States, and three National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine reports, and a data visualization project entitled How To Fix Maternal Mortality: The first step is to stop blaming women that was published in the 2019 Future of Medicine edition of Scientific American. Her work has appeared in publications such as Dame Magazine, Politico, ProPublica/NPR and she made a voice appearance in Terrance Nance’s HBO series Random Acts of Flyness. She is the recipient of numerous awards and currently serves as chair for Sexual and Reproductive Health section of the American Public Health Association. She was inducted as a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing in 2019 and was named the Thelma Shobe Endowed Chair in 2021.