Students Testify at Public Hearing on the Status of Women

Frances Burns '08, Sarah Christian '08, and Maggie Hobstetter '09, members of the student organization Law Students for Choice (LSFC), testified on October 19, 2006, at a public hearing before the California Commission on the Status of Women at the State Capitol Building in Sacramento. The Commission held the public hearing to learn what issues women and girls are facing and what role the state can play in addressing them. Christian and Hobstetter presented legislative and budgetary proposals regarding emergency contraception. Burns presented testimony regarding the use of microbicides in preventing the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

LSFC is committed to educating, organizing, and supporting pro-choice law students to ensure that a new generation of lawyers will be prepared to successfully defend and expand reproductive rights. LSFC hopes the proposals presented by Burns, Christian, and Hobstetter will be incorporated into the Commission on the Status of Women's legislative advocacy efforts for the next legislative year.

The California Commission on the Status of Women is a state agency established in 1965. The Commission is mandated to study issues affecting women and to advise the Governor and Legislature on inequities in laws, practices, and conditions that impact women. This is the first year in the Commission's history that hearings were held to gather information from the public about obstacles and challenges faced by women and girls in California.