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Video now available! Dobbs v. Jackson: Understanding the Post-Roe Landscape

June 29, 2022
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Online Viewing Watch the fully captioned event video.  Read the event coverage:  Brett Milano, "'A seismic moment in Constitutional history:' Experts in law and medicine examine the…

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Video now available! Everything That Doctors Want to Know About Reproductive Rights Litigation, But Are Too Afraid to Ask

February 23, 2022
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Current and past abortion legislation and court rulings have profound effects on health care providers’ ability to care for their patients. However, media coverage of abortion in the U…

A win for Black maternal health advocates, as Congress moves to set up new VA program

Nicholas St. Fleur
STAT News

Congress’ action this week is a victory for Black maternal health advocates like Charles Johnson, who’s been pushing for more support for Black mothers after his wife…

Mississippi asks Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade

Alice Miranda Ollstein and Josh Gerstein
Politico

The State of Mississippi filed a brief with the Supreme Court on Thursday defending the state’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy and asking the court to…

How Argentina Bucked Tradition in Latin America and Legalized Abortion

Richard Pérez-Peña
The New York Times

Latin America has long been hostile terrain for abortion rights advocates, even in recent decades as legal abortion became accessible in most of Europe, North America and other parts of…

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Sexual and Reproductive Experiences of Youth with Disabilities in Zimbabwe

Michael Ashley Stein (Affiliated Faculty)
African Disability Rights Yearbook

The African Disability Rights Yearbook is an Open Access Journal and provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports…

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June Medical Services v Russo—the Future of Abortion Access in the US

Dov Fox, I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director), Eli Y. Adashi
JAMA

On June 29, 2020, the US Supreme Court handed down its decision on June Medical Services v Russo, its first abortion case since President Donald Trump appointed 2 new conservative justices—leading…

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Video now available! COVID-19 and the Politics of Reproductive Health: Global Perspectives

July 29, 2020
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Online Resources Couldn't join the webinar? Check out the conversation @PetrieFlom using #GlobalReproHealth. Watch fully captioned video of the event! Event Description The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged health systems…

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Video now available! Reproductive Rights in 2020: June Medical Services v. Russo and COVID-19

July 16, 2020
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Online Resources Couldn't join the webinar? Check out the conversation @PetrieFlom using #ReproRights2020. Watch fully captioned video of the event! Event Description 2020 has been a notable year for reproductive…

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Relationally Speaking: The Implications of Treating Embryos as Property in a Canadian Context

Kathleen Hammond (Former Visiting Researcher)
SSRN

In July 2018, the Ontario Superior Court, in S.H. v D.H., dealt with a dispute between a recently separated couple over a frozen embryo that the couple had created.…

Supreme Court leaves in place Kentucky abortion restriction: The justices did not offer an explanation for their decision to refuse to hear a challenge to a lower court ruling upholding the restrictions.

Alice Miranda Ollstein
Politico

The Supreme Court on Monday left in place a Kentucky law requiring abortion providers to perform an ultrasound and show and describe it to the patient, regardless of the patient'…

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Abortion Battles in Mexico and Beyond: The Role of Law and the Courts

October 4, 2019
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Couldn't join us for the event? Check out some of the speakers' blog posts! Description Battles over sexual and reproductive health and rights, particularly abortion rights, are occurring around…

Book Launch: Transparency in Health and Health Care in the United States

September 16, 2019
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Description In June 2019, Cambridge University Press published Transparency in Health and Health Care in the United States. This volume, edited by Holly Fernandez Lynch, I. Glenn Cohen, Carmel Shachar, and…

Book Talk: Birth Rights and Wrongs: How Medicine and Technology are Remaking Reproduction and the Law

September 10, 2019
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Couldn't join us for the book talk? Check out some of the speakers' slide presentations and blog posts! Description Millions of Americans rely on the likes of birth control,…

Health Law Workshop: Dov Fox: Redressing Future Losses

September 9, 2019

Presentation Download the Presentation: "Redressing Future Losses" About the Presenter Dov Fox is the Herzog Endowed Scholar, Professor of Law, and Director of the Center for Health Law Policy &…

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Research Assistant in Global Health and Rights, Petrie-Flom Center at Harvard Law School

Deadline: Open until filled.

Position Description This 10-hour/week Research Assistant position will support the Petrie-Flom Center's Senior Fellow in Global Health and Rights Alicia Yamin, whose work focuses on…

The Law and Ethics of Fetal Burial Requirements for Reproductive Health Care

By Dov Fox, DPhil, JD, LLM; I. Glenn Cohen, JD (Faculty Director); Eli Y. Adashi, MD, MS
JAMA Viewpoint

From the article: On May 28, 2019, the Supreme Court of the United States decided the constitutionality of a far-reaching new abortion law.1 The 7 to 2 ruling in Box v Planned Parenthood upheld…

Creating eggs and sperm from stem cells: the next big thing in assisted reproduction?

I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director) and Alex Pearlman
STAT

[...] We are already in an age of disruptive reproductive technologies. Babies have been born using mitochondrial replacement techniques, often known as three-parent babies. News of mice born to same-sex parents…

U.S. anti-abortion activists once ‘chipped away’ at Roe vs. Wade: Now They've Picked Up a Sledgehammer

Matt Kwong, quoting I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
CBC News

From the article: The anti-abortion movement is hitting an aggressive new stride in the United States. Whether it breaks into a sprint toward the Supreme Court is worrying reproductive rights…

The Second Reproductive Revolution: Glenn Cohen delivers chair lecture

Harvard Law Today

From the article: Technology is changing reproduction, says Professor I. Glenn Cohen ’03, one of the world’s leading experts on the intersection of bioethics and the law. In…

I. Glenn Cohen Chair Lecture - The Second Reproductive Revolution: From Gene Editing, to Uterus Transplants, to Embryos Derived from Our Skin – How Technology Is Changing Reproduction

April 29, 2019
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Dean John F. Manning honored I. Glenn Cohen on the occasion of his appointment as the James A. Attwood and Leslie Williams Professor of Law Professor Cohen, who is also…

Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy: Considering the Future of U.S. Policy on "Three-Parent IVF"

April 17, 2019
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Couldn't join us? Check out the conversation on Twitter: @PetrieFlom #MRTpanel and some of our speakers' slide presentations below! Learn more about the issues! Check out media coverage supporting…

Silencing the drama: Do the SDG indicators expose the injustices that limit women’s sexual and reproductive lives?

Alicia Ely Yamin (Senior Fellow)
Open Global Rights

From the article: There is no area of human rights that has more pitched and dramatic battles than sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). As David Hulme’s …

Losing Embryos, Finding Justice: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Personhood

I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director), Dov Fox, and Eli Y. Adashi
Annals of Internal Medicine

From the article: On 3 March 2018, a liquid nitrogen storage tank broke down at University Hospitals Fertility Center in Cleveland, Ohio. More than 950 patients lost over 4000 eggs and embryos (also called …

When Your Dreams of Motherhood Are Destroyed

Kayla Webley Adler, quoting I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
Marie Claire

From the article: Neither major political party is expected to push for more regulation. Democrats aren’t likely to touch fertility because of how close the issue is to…

Call for chapter proposals: Representing Abortion, St. Francis Xavier University

Deadline: October 01, 2018
Rachel Alpha Johnston Hurst

General Description Rosalind Pollack Petchesky argued in 1987 that “feminists and other prochoice advocates have all too readily ceded the visual terrain,” abandoning the field of fetal imagery to…

Call For Papers: The Impact of Politics on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, Reproductive Health Matters (RHM)

Deadline: October 31, 2018

>Read full call

General Description Volume 27 Number 54, May 2019 Submission deadline 31 October 2018 RHM is compiling a themed issue to be published in May 2019 on the impact of politics on sexual and reproductive health…

Planned Parenthood sues Trump administration over federal funding

Alex Swoyer, quoting I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
The Washington Times

From the article: Three Planned Parenthood affiliates sued Wednesday to demand taxpayer money keep flowing to the country’s largest abortion network, saying a new Trump administration policy appears…

Assisted Reproduction in Israel: Law, Religion, and Culture

Avishalom Westreich
Brill Research Perspectives

From the article: The theme of this composition is the right to procreate in the Israeli context. Our discussion of this right includes the implementation of the right to procreate,…

Can Lost Embryos Give Rise to a Wrongful-Death Suit?

Sara Zhang, quoting I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
The Atlantic

From the article: Over a single weekend in March, an unprecedented disaster hit fertility clinics—twice. First came the news that the University Hospitals Fertility Center in Ohio, lost…

Assisted Reproduction in Israel: Law, Religion, and Culture

Avishalom Westreich (Visiting Scholar)
Brill

From the article: The theme of this composition is the right to procreate in the Israeli context. Our discussion of this right includes the implementation of the right to procreate,…

Criminal Abortion in the United States

March 1, 2018

Couldn't join us for the event? Listen to the full event below! The Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School invites you to a lunch talk on human rights…

Divorced couple take their fight over frozen embryos to Colorado Supreme Court

Andrew Fies, quoting I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
ABC News

From the story: What happens when the parents who created frozen embryos go to war with each other over whether to procreate with them or destroy them? That's the…

Court to weigh if one parent has the right to use frozen embryos if the other objects: Case before the Colorado Supreme Court hinges on a person's right to procreate - or not procreate.

Ariana Eunjung Cha, quoting I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
Washington Post

From the article: On Tuesday, the Colorado Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the Rookses' case. Although several other cases have made their way to states' high courts, legal…

Sixth Annual Health Law Year in P/Review

December 12, 2017
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Couldn't join us? Check out the conversation on Twitter: @PetrieFlom #healthlawpreview2018 and some of our speakers' slide presentations below! Description The Sixth Annual Health Law Year in P/Review…

Behind Bars: Ethics and Human Rights in U.S. Prisons

November 29 - December 1, 2017
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The United States leads the world in incarceration. The “War on Drugs” and prioritizing punishment over rehabilitation has led to mass imprisonment, mainly of the nation’s…

Health Law Workshop: Vardit Ravitsky

November 27, 2017

Presentation Topic: "The Shifting Landscape of Prenatal Testing: Between Reproductive Autonomy and Public Health" This paper is not available for download. To request a copy in preparation for the workshop,…

The Debate over Postmortem Sperm Retrieval of Fallen Soldiers

Avishalom Westreich (Visiting Scholar Alumnus)
Jerusalem Post

This essay is based in part on the workshop the Petrie-Flom Center hosted on October 23, 2017, in which then-Visiting Scholar Avishalom Westreich presented his research-in-progress to a diverse group of religious,…

Contraceptive Coverage and the Balance Between Conscience and Access

Ronit Y. Stahl and Holly Fernandez Lynch (Former Executive Director, Academic Fellow Alumna)
JAMA

From the article: When the Obama administration included contraception in the essential benefits package to be covered by employer-sponsored health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act, it sought to…

Health Law Workshop: Alicia Ely Yamin

October 2, 2017

Presentation Topic: "Democracy, Health Systems and the Right to Health: Narratives of Charity, Markets and Citizenship" This paper is not available for download. To request a copy in preparation for…

Book Launch: Law, Religion, and Health in the United States

September 27, 2017
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In July 2017, Cambridge University Press published Law, Religion, and Health in the United States, co-edited by outgoing Petrie-Flom Center Executive Director Holly Fernandez Lynch, Faculty Director I. Glenn Cohen, and…

Artificial wombs are coming. They could completely change the debate over abortion.

I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
Vox

From the article: There’s a scientific development on the horizon that could upend the abortion debate: artificial wombs. The research remains preliminary, but in April a group of…

How New Technology Could Threaten a Woman’s Right to Abortion

Kristen V. Brown, quoting I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
Gizmodo

From the article: [...] It could also complicate—and even jeopardize—the right to an abortion in an America in which that right is predicated on whether a fetus…

Locked Out Of Asia, Americans Are Turning To Eastern Europe To Hire Gestational Surrogates

Sarah Elizabeth Richards, quoting I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
HuffPost

From the article: [...] While it’s impossible to know “what’s presented to you versus what’s really occurring,” Harvard Law School Professor I. Glenn…

Judge Offers Inmates Reduced Sentences in Exchange for Vasectomy

Kalhan Rosenblatt, quoting I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
NBC News

From the article: [... I.] Glenn Cohen, a professor at Harvard Law School, said the program was a "bad policy," and pointed to prior court rulings, which set a precedent that…

‘Sperminator’ Ari Nagel spreads more seed on recent Israel visit

Renee Ghert-Zand, quoting I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
Times of Israel

From the article: [...] According to Harvard law professor and bioethics expert I. Glenn Cohen, there is no law that prohibits Nagel’s sperm donations. At the same time, there…

ORDER NOW & GET 20% OFF! Law, Religion, and Health in the United States

Holly Fernandez Lynch (Executive Director), I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director), and Elizabeth Sepper
Cambridge University Press

About the Book: While the law can create conflict between religion and health, it can also facilitate religious accommodation and protection of conscience. Finding this balance is critical to addressing…

Health Law Workshop: Judith Daar

April 17, 2017

Presentation Download the Presentation: "A Clash at the Petri Dish: Transferring Embryos with Known Genetic Anomalies" About the Presenter Judith Daar is Professor of Law at Whittier Law School with…

Prohibiting sperm donor anonymity in the US and possible effects on recruitment and compensation

Andrew Hellman and I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
BioNews

From the article: Many children conceived using donor sperm or eggs want to know their biological parents. In the US, some clinics make the identity of the sperm donor available…

Health Law Workshop: Khiara Bridges

March 6, 2017

Presentation Download the presentation now: ​Proposal, Untitled Ethnography (2016) Introduction, "Reproducing Race" (2011) Note from the Presenter: I am circulating the introductory chapter from my first ethnography, Reproducing Race: An Ethnography of…

Call for Papers, AMA Journal of Ethics

Deadline: Various.
>Read full call

The AMA Journal of Ethics® is an open-access, MEDLINE-indexed online journal of expert-solicited and peer-reviewed content that receives over one million visits annually (and growing). Our editorial…

The Trump-era Supreme Court could erode abortion access with a ‘death by 1,000 cuts’

Rebecca Harrington, quoting I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
Business Insider

From the article: Glenn Cohen, a health-law expert and professor at Harvard Law School, said two kinds of laws provide the most likely paths for SCOTUS to overturn or undermine…

Fifth Annual Health Law Year in P/Review

January 23, 2017
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Couldn't make it to the event? Check out some of the speakers' slides as well as the Health Affairs blog symposium! Description The Fifth Annual Health Law Year in…

How Donald Trump’s Health Secretary Pick Endangers Women

Allison K. Hoffman (Academic Fellow Alumna) and Jill R. Horwitz
New York Times

LOS ANGELES — With the selection of Representative Tom Price as secretary of health and human services, President-elect Donald J. Trump has taken a giant step toward undermining the health…

How Is It Even Possible For Sofía Vergara’s Embryos To Sue Her? A Harvard Law Prof Weighs In

I. Glenn Cohen
Refinery29

From the article: The already-unusual legal battleover Modern Family actress Sofía Vergara’s frozen embryos reached a surprising new chapter on Tuesday — when the embryos sued…

“Sperm Donor Anonymity and Compensation: An Experiment with American Sperm Donors”: New Scholarship from Faculty Director I. Glenn Cohen

Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director), Travis Coan, Michelle Ottey, and Christina Boyd
Journal of Law and the Biosciences (JLB)

Prohibiting Sperm Donor Anonymity Could Reduce the Number of Donors: A new study published in the Journal of Law and the Biosciences (JLB) suggests that prohibiting anonymous sperm donation would…

Professor offers basics of bioethics and the law in 90 minutes: Harvard expert breaks down complex topic for Ed Portal and online audience

Deborah Blackwell, reviewing lecture by I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
Harvard Gazette

On September 13, 2016, Petrie-Flom Faculty Director I. Glenn Cohen delivered a lecture at the Harvard Ed Portal as part of his online EdX course "Bioethics: The Law, Medicine, and Ethics of…

Is Medical Tourism Ethical?: Profile of I. Glenn Cohen's work as a Greenwall Foundation Faculty Scholar

The Greenwall Foundation

Petrie-Flom Faculty Director I. Glenn Cohen served as a Greenwall Foundation Faculty Scholar, Class of 2015. The Greenwall Foundation recently published a profile of Cohen's project, "Is Medical Tourism Ethical?": …

Bioethics and the Law of Reproductive Technology and Genetics: Free Public Lecture by Faculty Director I. Glenn Cohen

Harvard Ed Portal, Allston, MA

Genetic enhancements. Reproductive technologies. Animal-human hybrids. Through new technologies and discoveries in science, we are able to do amazing things. However, these new developments have brought many questions to the…

PFC Spotlight: Student Fellow Alumnus Neel Shah

Petrie-Flom Center

Dr. Neel Shah was a Student Fellow for the 2007-2008 academic year, while in his third year at Harvard Medical School. Then Academic Fellow and now Faculty Director I. Glenn…

Bioethics: The Law, Medicine, and Ethics of Reproductive Technologies and Genetics: New EdX Course from Faculty Director Glenn Cohen

Petrie-Flom Center

Bioethics: The Law, Medicine, and Ethics of Reproductive Technologies and Genetics An introduction to the study of bioethics and the application of legal and ethical reasoning. Course begins on September 6, 2016.…

Bosses in the Bedroom: Religious Employers and the Future of Employer-Sponsored Health Care

Holly Fernandez Lynch (Executive Director) and Gregory Curfman
Law, Religion, and Health in the United States (Holly Fernandez Lynch, I. Glenn Cohen, Elizabeth Sepper, eds.), forthcoming 2017, Cambridge University Press

Abstract: This chapter uses the controversy over mandated contraceptive coverage in employer health plans as a jumping-off point to do two things: (1) evaluate the proper scope of religion in the…

Bosses in the Bedroom: Religious Employers and the Future of Employer-Sponsored Health Care

Holly Fernandez Lynch (Executive Director) and Gregory Curfman
In Law, Religion, and Health in the United States (Holly Fernandez Lynch, I. Glenn Cohen, Elizabeth Sepper, eds.), forthcoming 2017, Cambridge University Press

Abstract: This chapter uses the controversy over mandated contraceptive coverage in employer health plans as a jumping-off point to do two things: (1) evaluate the proper scope of religion in the…

Dead man’s sperm

Jenny Morber, quoting I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
Mosaic: The Science of Life

Excerpt from article: [...] Where a man has made his wishes clear, the rights of the dead almost always supplant the rights of the living. Why? Law professor Glenn Cohen says…

Harvard Medical School’s 2016 Bioethics Conference: Social Justice and Ethics Committees in Health Care: Core to our Mission or None of our Business?

April 14, 2016

Couldn't make it to the conference? Join the conversation on Twitter using #HMSABC! Description This multidisciplinary program was co-sponsored by the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School and…

Faith charities eye Justice Kennedy in Obamacare birth control fight

Tom Howell Jr., quoting Holly Fernandez Lynch (Executive Director)
The Washington Times

Excerpt from article: [...] The Justice Department argues that a victory for the nonprofits would create a slippery slope. “The precedent that this could set, if the court was to…

Planned Parenthood And Fetal Tissue Sale: Manufactured Controversy And The Real Ethical Debate

I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
Health Affairs Blog

From the article: [...] Planned Parenthood received US $528 million of government money in 2014, much of it going to pay for services that include contraception and cancer screenings, which it provides largely…

Fertility Tourism: Options and Ethics

Dawn Davenport, interviewing I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
Creating A Family Radio

Description: What should you consider when going abroad (or coming to the United States) for fertility treatment? Host Dawn Davenport, Executive Director of Creating a Family, the national infertility &…

The Limits to Consumerism in Health Care: A Lecture by Mary Anne Bobinski

March 2, 2016
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Couldn't attend the event? Check out some of our speakers' slide presentations! Description It is often said that health care has moved from paternalism, in the form of &ldquo…

Going Germline: Mitochondrial Replacement as a Guide to Genome Editing

By Eli Y. Adashi & I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
Cell

Mitochondrial replacement (MR) serves as a crucial test case and learning guide for the scientific, ethical, and regulatory challenges of future reproductive breakthroughs. The lessons learned from the regulatory review…

Scalia’s death shakes contraception mandate, other high-profile court cases

Tom Howell Jr., quoting Holly Fernandez Lynch (Executive Director)
Washington Times

[...] Legal analysts it’s not unusual to have different legal treatment from one area to the next. “States do things differently all the time,” said Holly Lynch,…

Fetal Pain: An Update on the Science and Legal Implications

February 10, 2016
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Learn more about the presentations - check out slides below! Amanda Pustilnik, JD and Maureen Strafford MD discussed fetal pain, including advances in neuroscience and treatment and their implications for…

Expert Committee: FDA Should Allow Mitochondrial Replacement Trials Under Certain Conditions

Zachary Brennan, quoting I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
Regulatory Affairs

From the article: Glenn Cohen, faculty director of the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics at Harvard Law School, wrote on the center’s blog Wednesday: …

Fourth Annual Health Law Year in P/Review

January 29, 2016
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Couldn't attend in person? Learn more about the event: Learn more about the presentations - check out select speakers' slides below! Check out the collaborative blog series on the…

U.S. Supreme Court could decide today whether to take Texas abortion case

Brian M. Rosenthal, quoting I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
Houston Chronicle

Excerpt from Article: [...] Glenn Cohen, a former U.S. Department of Justice lawyer and current law professor at Harvard University, said the cases satisfy the two most important criteria: they…

Senate GOP bill protects opponents of Obama birth-control rules

Tom Howell Jr., quoting Holly F. Lynch (Executive Director)
Washington Times

From the article: Holly Lynch, a bioethics expert at Harvard Law School who closely tracks the debate, said the new bill didn’t balance its focus on rights of…

HHS rewrites Obamacare rules: Orders free birth control for all

Tom Howell Jr., quoting Holly Fernandez Lynch (Executive Director)
The Washington Times

From the article: The Obama administration on Monday ordered all insurers to provide IUDs, the contraceptive patch and other birth control free of out-of-pocket charge to all women, thereby rewriting…

2015 Annual Conference: Law, Religion, and Health in America

May 8 - 9, 2015
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Join the conversation on Twitter! @PetrieFlom #lawreligionhealth And check out many of the speakers' slide presentations below! Conference Description Religion and medicine have historically gone hand in hand, but increasingly…

After Hobby Lobby: What Is Caesar's, What Is God's?

May 7, 2015
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Couldn't join us in person? Join the conversation on Twitter! @PetrieFlom #lawreligionhealth Pre-Conference Session As prelude to the 2015 Petrie-Flom Center Annual Conference, “Law, Religion, and Health in America,…

Are All Abortions Equal?: Should There Be Exceptions to the Criminalization of Abortion for Rape and Incest?

I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics, Vol. 43, No. 1, 2015

Faculty Director I. Glenn Cohen has a new article on the criminalization of abortions. Abstract: There was a moment in the 2012 campaign, when Mitt Romney attempted to “pivot”…

NOW ONLINE: I. Glenn Cohen Discusses Modern Fertility Technologies and Benefits

Shayna Seymour, interviewing I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
Chronicle (WCVB/ABC Boston)

Show Abstract: The birds and the bees are still important – but today's couples eager to start a family can also rely on Big Data to get them to…

Transatlantic Lessons in Regulation of Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy: prospect of disease-free children for women carriers through MRT

I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director), with Eli Adashi and Julian Savulescu
Science

Cambridge, Mass., April 9, 2015 – A paper forthcoming on Friday in Science discusses the regulation of a new technology that gives hope to women who carry genetic disease. Mutant mitochondrial DNA…

Religious colleges seek contraception mandate exception like for-profit companies

Tom Howell Jr., quoting Holly F. Lynch (Executive Director)
Washington Times

From the article: Corporations with religious objections have already been granted relief from Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate, but religious colleges and charities are still fighting the administration in court,…

Families Matter: Ethically, Legally, and Clinically

March 18 - 20, 2015

Program We often talk, in bioethics, about individual autonomy. Yet our most challenging ethical, legal and clinical controversies in health care often center around family roles and responsibilities: How should…

Patients with Passports: Medical Tourism, Law, and Ethics

Robert Klitzman, leading discussion with I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs

Live Webstream Watch the event live online! Description Medical tourism is a growing, multi-billion dollar industry involving millions of patients who travel abroad each year to get health care. Some…

Third Annual Health Law Year in P/Review collaborative blogging with Health Affairs

Petrie-Flom

The Third Annual Health Law Year in P/Review was a big success! Video will be posted on our website shortly, but our presenters will be posting on their respective…

Courts wrestle with wave of new state abortion laws

Paige Winfield Cunningham, quoting I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
Politico

[...] As courts weigh the legal challenges to these laws, they’re being asked to spell out exactly how far states can go in regulating abortion and what requirements go…

Law Professor Discusses Medical Tourism

Katherine H. Scott, quoting I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
Harvard Crimson

When most people hear the word “tourism,” they immediately think of flocking to the sandy beaches of the Caribbean or exploring museums in a European city. For Harvard…

Law and Ethics of Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing

November 6, 2014
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The Petrie-Flom Center hosted a discussion of the issues surrounding noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT), a screening method for detecting certain specific chromosomal abnormalities, as well as sex, in utero. NIPT…

Global Reproduction: Health, Law, and Human Rights in Surrogacy and Egg Donation

November 5, 2014
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A screening of the documentary Can We See the Baby Bump, Please?, which was followed by a panel discussion of the legal and human rights issues surrounding surrogacy and egg…

Freezing Eggs to Put off Pregnancy - Clever Business Move but Not Magic Bullet: Experts

Ria Novosti, quoting I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)

From the article: [...] Although companies consider their offer to freeze eggs to be a benefit for female employees, Glenn Cohen, a Professor of Law at Harvard University, believes there is…

Egg freezing message: Lean in, and save the kids for later

Joanna Weiss, quoting I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
The Boston Globe

From the article: [...] Glenn Cohen, a professor at Harvard Law School, worries that an egg-freezing perk could function as a sorting mechanism, too. Soon, he fears, we’ll be…

Facebook and Apple Are Now Paying for Egg Freezing

Nancy Redd, interviewing I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
HuffPost Live

In this segment of HuffPost Live, host Nancy Redd interviews Faculty Director I. Glenn Cohen to discuss the recent news that Facebook and Apple will now offer their employees the…

Apple, Facebook Will Pay for Employees to Freeze Their Eggs

Alyssa Newcomb and Catherine Cole, quoting I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
ABC World News

From the article: [...] Glenn Cohen, a professor at Harvard Law School and an expert in the intersection of bioethics and law, said the perk could be perceived in several different…

Jeanne Shaheen says Scott Brown backed bill to let employers use religious opt-out on mammograms

Louis Jacobson, quoting Holly Fernandez Lynch (Executive Director)
PolitiFact

From the article: [...] Holly Fernandez Lynch, a Harvard bioethicist and author of Conflicts of Conscience in Health Care: An Institutional Compromise, called the claim "technically true" but "a bit of…

Braley, Ernst debate anti-abortion legislation impact

Lauren Carroll, quoting I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
PolitiFact

From the article: [...] In-vitro fertilization practices -- when a child is conceived in a lab outside of the body -- could also be affected. In-vitro fertilization specialists often create multiple…

Democratic group claims Cory Gardner backs bill to ‘ban all abortions’

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, quoting I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
PolitiFact

From the article: [...] By suggesting that a fetus has the "right to life," the bill challenges the Supreme Court's past support for a constitutional right to abortion. An act…