The ReproCussions of Barriers to Care: Youth Access and the Fight for Bodily Autonomy
Friday, March 27th, 2026 8:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Event Description
The Reproductive Rights Law Initiative (RRLI) at Case Western Reserve University's School of Law is hosting a daylong conference called The ReproCussions of Barriers to Care: Youth Access and the Fight for Bodily Autonomy. This conference will explore the legal and structural barriers facing young people as they attempt to access essential reproductive and gender-affirming health care. In a post-Dobbs landscape marked by escalating parental consent requirements, criminalization of abortion access, and hostile legislation targeting trans health care and sex education, this conference will gather legal experts, medical providers, and advocates to analyze the legal doctrines at play and imagine a more just framework for youth bodily autonomy.
Register to attend in person.
Register to attend virtually.
Schedule of Events
8:00 am - 8:50 am - Breakfast
8:50 am - 9:00 am - Welcome & Intro: Dean Paul Rose, Jessie Hil & Katie Corwin
9:00 am - 10:15 am - Who Decides?: When Parental Rights Collide with Youth Bodily Autonomy – Jessie Hill [moderator/Case Western Reserve University School of Law], Naomi Cahn [University of Virginia School of Law], Courtney Joslin [UC Davis School of Law], Solangel Maldonado [Seton Hall University School of Law], and Laura Portundo [University of Houston Law Center]
Description: This panel examines the constitutional and statutory frameworks that govern young people’s ability to make decisions about their own bodies. Legal scholars will explore the tension between parental rights doctrines and minors’ rights to privacy and bodily autonomy, tracing how courts have historically balanced these competing interests—and how that balance is shifting in a post-Dobbs landscape. Panelists will interrogate the expanding use of parental control as a tool of state regulation over youth health care.
10:15 am - 10:30 am - Break
10:30 am - 11:45 am - Between the Court and the Clinic: Barriers to Youth Abortion Access - Katie Corwin [moderator/Case Western Reserve University School of Law], Dr. Amanda Bryson [University of California San Francisco], Symone Harmon [Women's Law Project], Nina Monfredo [National Center for Youth Law], and Allison Zimmer [The Lawyering Project]
Description: Focusing on abortion access for young people, this panel analyzes the legal and practical obstacles minors face when seeking abortion care. Topics will include parental involvement laws, judicial bypass procedures, criminalization, and interstate travel restrictions. Drawing on legal analysis, provider experience, and advocacy perspectives, panelists will examine how abortion restrictions uniquely burden young people and, in many cases, function to compel parenthood by design.
11:45 am - 12:30 pm - Lunch
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm - Preventing Prevention: Contraception, Sex Ed, and the Politics of Youth Health – Maggie Scotece [moderator/Case Western Reserve University School of Law], Lucie Arvallo [Jane’s Due Process], Lauren Blauvelt [Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio], Alison Macklin [SIECUS], and Meetra Mehdizadeh [Center for Reproductive Rights]
Description: This panel explores how laws and policies that govern restrictions on contraception access, sex education, and reproductive health infrastructure shape young people’s reproductive lives long before pregnancy occurs. Panelists will analyze abstinence-only education mandates, consent and confidentiality barriers, and the cascading effects of Planned Parenthood closures on youth access to preventive care. With a focus on the legal and political frameworks that enable or restrict young people’s access to care, the discussion will highlight how limiting information and services increase health risks and undermine young people’s autonomy.
1:30pm - 1:45pm - Break
1:45 pm - 2:45 pm - Policing Identity: Youth, Gender-Affirming Care, and the New Frontiers of State Control - Malcolm Miller [moderator/Case Western Reserve University], Dr. Amanda Adeleye [University Hospitals Fertility Center/CCRM Fertility], Dara Adkison [TransOhio], Kate Mozynski [Equality Ohio], and Harper Seldin [ACLU, LGBTQ & HIV Project]
Description: This panel addresses the rapidly expanding wave of laws banning gender-affirming care for minors. Panelists will analyze the legal theories driving these bans, including parental rights rhetoric, medical regulation claims, and state assertions of child protection authority. Bringing together legal experts, advocates, and medical perspectives, the discussion will situate attacks on trans youth health care within broader efforts to regulate bodies, identities, and autonomy.
2:45 pm - 3:00 pm - Closing Remarks
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm - Reception
Please join us for a reception to meet and mingle with conference attendees and speakers. Light refreshments will be provided.
*Masks are welcome and will be provided to attendees, if needed.*
Event Location
Case Western Reserve University School of Law
Moot Court Room
11075 East Blvd.
Cleveland, OH 44106
