Roe v. Wade has been overturned, and adoption and family severance was a core consideration in the decision. How do we, as adopted people, now move forward with rights-based work and advocacy in a vastly different landscape for women, adoption, and reproductive freedom?
Adoptee-Centered. This is an adoptee-centered event. All are welcome to attend, but participation in the meeting chat and in the question and answer portion of the event will be limited to adoptees only.
Participants will outline the current impact of the US Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, discuss the impact of the decision on adoptees and adoptee rights, and work toward actionable goals to help adoptee rights activists and their allies move forward. Some questions that will be discussed in what is planned as a series of events include:
- How should adoptee rights organizations address the Dobbs decision and its impact?
- Should adoptee rights organizations and advocates abandon long-held political neutrality on abortion rights?
- What is the status and impact of US safe haven laws and baby boxes across the country? What should we be looking for and how do we structure and build opposition to anonymous abandonments of infants?
- Who are allies today in the effort to secure and protect adoptee rights in the United States?
- How do we address family preservation while anti-abortion activists also push that issue, though under a far different context?
- What actions can we take today and in the near future to support reproductive freedom?
Register now for this event, which will involve multiple organizations, including Adoptees United Inc., Adoptee Voices Rising, and Adoptees for Choice.
The first in a series of virtual events on these issues kicks off on July 7, 2022, at 4pm Pacific/6pm Central/7pm Eastern. We hope to see you there.
Register Today
Panelists/Participants
This event is co-organized and sponsored by Adoptees United Inc., Adoptee Voices Rising, and Adoptees for Choice. The conversation will be moderated by Gregory Luce, the Executive Director of Adoptees United. Participants, other than those who attend, include:
Megan Boone (she/her/hers)
Leader, Adoptee Voices Rising
Megan Boone is an East Asian transracial adoptee. She is a leader with Adoptee Voices Rising, an organization of US transracial adoptees working towards equity for adoptees through community and legislative advocacy, and by centering adoptee voices in those discussions. Her background is in AAPI organizing, and she has multiple years of experience fighting for adoptee citizenship at both the state and federal level.
Shawna Hodgson (she/her/hers)
Board Member, Adoptees United Inc.
Shawna Hodgson is a Texas-born adoptee and sixth generation Texan. She became active in adoptee rights in Texas in 2014 and has worked closely with legislative sponsors in both the Texas House and Senate each session. She is a leading advocate for adoptee rights in Texas and is the spokesperson for the Texas Adoptee Rights Coalition.
Lina Vanegas (she/her/hers)
Co-Founder, Adoptees for Choice
Lina Vanegas, MSW, is a transracial and transnational displaced person. She is a presenter, consultant, writer, an adoptee rights advocate, and a mental health and suicide prevention advocate and a trauma expert. She is also the co-creator and co-host of the podcast Rescripting the Narrative. She most recently authored a piece in the Petrie-Flom Center Symposia: Adoption, Family Separation & Preservation, and Reproductive Justice, entitled Organizing and Activism of Adopted and Displaced People.
An important gathering. See you there!
Was this event archived to watch later? Thank you.
Carey–
By agreement of the participants, it was not recorded. We will have other similar events in the future.
Greg