Hadassah Chicago-North Shore, National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) Chicago North Shore and NCJW South Cook present a virtual event about maintaining abortion rights in Illinois and the status of abortion rights across the country. Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg will provide a Jewish perspective on reproductive justice. Illinois State Senator Melinda Bush will discuss the Illinois Reproductive Health Act signed into law in 2019, a movement she led. Lorie Chaiten, Senior Staff Attorney with the national ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, will discuss the implications and complications from the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe. The program will be moderated by Andi Friedman, an attorney and advocate with extensive ties in the field of reproductive health. Find out what is happening and what YOU can do to make a difference.
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg serves as Scholar in Residence at NCJW. Before her ordination from the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, she worked as a freelance writer, and in the years since has served as rabbi and educator at Tufts and Northwestern Universities. Rabbi Ruttenberg leads the Rabbis for Repro initiative of NCJW, Inc. She is an award-winning author and writer. Her newest book is
On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World.
State Senator Melinda Bush has served in the Illinois Senate since 2013. Bush has been a steadfast advocate of protecting a woman’s right to choose. She championed a law in 2017 that ensures Illinois women would still have access to safe and legal abortions should the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade. She also led the monumental 2019 Reproductive Health Act, which repealed outdated abortion laws that have been blocked by the courts.
Lorie Chaiten is a Senior Staff attorney at the Reproductive Freedom Project at the national ACLU, where she focuses on litigating challenges to unlawful abortion bans and other restrictions. Throughout her 37-year legal career, she has concentrated her work on reproductive rights litigation and advocacy.
Andrea (Andi) Friedman is an advocate working with partners across the country to shift the conversation on abortion, build power and advance access to self-managed medication abortion. She is a lawyer and advocate with extensive experience in the reproductive health, rights and justice movement.
