Reproductive Justice in Europe: A Panel Discussion on International Women's Day

This panel discussion, organised by SSEES on the occasion of International Women's Day, brings together diverse London based speakers - activists and academics from across Europe - to reflect on reproductive rights.

Wednesday 8 March, 6.00pm

This panel discussion, on the occasion of International Women's Day, brings together diverse London based speakers - activists and academics from across Europe - to reflect on reproductive rights. London remains a vital site of vibrant diasporas participating in transnational activist and solidarity networks like the London-Irish Abortion Rights Campaign and Gals4Gals (Dziewuchy Dziewuchom).

There are great differences between the respective national contexts being discussed some of the most restrictive and punitive abortion laws in the world are to be found in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Poland. This is in contrast to countries like Serbia, Croatia and Hungary which traditionally had more progressive reproductive rights regimes. Yet a worrying rolling back of reproductive rights is visible across much of the European continent.

The election of Donald Trump in the USA, possible mobility restrictions in the UK post-Brexit, and the spectre of the far-right across Europe are cause for alarm. At the same time, progressive women and their allies are more galvanised than ever as evidenced by the scale of global Women's Marches on January 21st and the success of Czarny Protest in Poland during October 2016.

The panel aims to take stock of some of the main trends in reproductive rights in Europe paying particular attention to the roles of transnational activist and diasporic networks in London which have been instrumental in advocating for progressive reproductive rights.

Speakers:

• Marta Kotwas, UCL SSEES/Gals4Gals (Dziewuchy Dziewuchom)
• Nevila Pahumi, UCL SSEES
• Rebecca Steinfeld, Goldsmiths
• Eszter Tarsoly, UCL SSEES
• Eleanor White, Abortion Rights Campaign Ireland