Katie R. Eyer, State Constitutions and the Right to Gender Autonomy, 2025 Wisc. L. Rev. __ (forthcoming)Trans scholars have long theorized a fundamental right to gender autonomy under the constitution: the right to self-determine one's gender, and to express that
Gender and the Law Prof Blog
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Abolishing the Family
By Tracy Thomas
Susan Frelich Appleton & Albertina Antognini, Abolishing the Family. Family law scholarship is replete with calls for reform. Yet gender-, race-, and class-based inequalities within and across families remain intractable. So what if, instead of reforming the family, we abolish it?Abolishing the…
Caitlin Hanan Aladham on “(Toxic) Masculinities and the Gay/Trans Panic Defense”
By Jamie Abrams
Caitlin Hanan Aladham has published (Toxic) Masculinities and the Gay/Trans Panic Defense in the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Law and Social Change. The abstract is excerpted here: This Article examines the gay/trans panic defense under a masculinities studies lens and advocates…
An IVF Primer, Including Legal Barriers to Access
By Jamie Abrams
The Center for Reproductive Rights has published a helpful primer on IVF, an important resource as this vital form of health care becomes politicized. The primer is titled "IVF: A Critical Method for Building Families." It notes that…
U.S. Medicaid Contraception Workforce Tracker
By Jamie Abrams
The Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity at George Washington University has updated its U.S. Medicaid Contraception Workforce Tracker. The data is now updated to include data through 2021. It reveals that 39% of U.S. counties have no…
U.S. Olympic Officials Ban Transgender Women
By Jamie Abrams
The 19th's Kate Sosin reported Without public notice, U.S. Olympic officials exclude transgender women from competing. Sosin reports: An announcement was never made, and the word “transgender” appears nowhere in the document. But effective June 18, The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic…
N.Y. Court Bars Surveilling of Non-Respondent IPV Survivor by Child Welfare Agency
By Jamie Abrams
A New York State appellate court, in In the Matter of R., A., held that a Family Court cannot place a mother who was a domestic violence survivor under the supervision of N.Y.C's child welfare agency while a neglect…
Study Finds Female Judges Impact Jury Trial Verdicts in NC by Increasing the Probability of Guilty Verdicts
By Tracy Thomas
Alessandra Foresta, Lady Justice: The Impact of Female Judges on Jury Trial Verdicts in North Carolina, 88 European Journal of Political Economy (June 2025): 102678.In this work, I explore the influence of judges’ gender on the verdicts rendered in…
The Problem With the Illusion of Stability in Family Law
By Tracy Thomas
Kaiponanea T. Matsumura, The Illusion of Stability in Family Law, 78 Vanderbilt Law Review 1133 (2025) Stability is universally accepted as a central value in family law. Within the context of adult relationships, stability determines which relationships the law will recognize…
Junk Science in Abortion Litigation
By Tracy Thomas
Kirby Tyrrell ,Addressing Junk Science in Abortion Litigation, 55 U. Mem. L. Rev. 61 (2024)Junk science has been a longstanding feature of antiabortion legislative and litigation strategy. But after the Supreme Court’s opinion in Whole Woman’s Health required courts…