Jill C. Morrison, Senior Counsel

Jill C. Morrison is Senior Counsel in Health and Reproductive Rights at the National Women’s Law Center. Since joining the Center in 1998 as a Georgetown Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellow, her focus has been on religious restrictions on reproductive health services. Ms. Morrison is a graduate of Rutgers University and Yale Law School, where she was an editor of the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism and president of the Black Law Students' Association. She served as a judicial clerk to the Honorable Sterling Johnson Jr., Eastern District, New York. Ms. Morrison also practiced in Philadelphia as a Bar Foundation Fellow with the Women’s Law Project, and as an associate with Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll. Ms. Morrison currently serves on the board of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, and teaches Reproductive Justice at the University of the District of Columbia Law School.

Expert in: Pharmacy Refusals, Religious Restrictions, Barriers to Reproductive Care, Pregnancy Rights, Health Care & Reproductive Rights
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My Take

The 'Good Old Days' Weren't So Good for Reproductive Justice

Posted by Jill C. Morrison, Senior Counsel | Posted on: April 17, 2009 at 03:30 pm

by Jill Morrison, Senior Counsel, 
National women’s Law Center 

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People Who Are Refused Reproductive Health Care Can't Always "Just Go Someplace Else"!

Posted by Jill C. Morrison, Senior Counsel | Posted on: April 16, 2009 at 02:42 pm

by Jill Morrison, Senior Counsel, 
National Women’s Law Center 

Cross-posted from RH Reality Check.

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Reflections on Roe: Happy Thanksgiving Day

Posted by Jill C. Morrison, Senior Counsel | Posted on: January 14, 2009 at 05:18 pm

by Jill Morrison, Senior Counsel
National Women’s Law Center

Next week will mark the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

Whenever I think of Roe, I feel as though I am living in two worlds: one where the right to abortion is safe and secure, and another, where there are constant threats to women’s reproductive freedom. Well, I stand corrected -- I don’t actually live in the second world, I merely visit it in my professional capacity, as an attorney working to advance access to reproductive health care.

The reason I am a resident of “there are no threats to abortion access-ville” are many.  Among the blessings I count each day, I am:

  • Employed and insured
  • Safe from the threat of domestic violence
  • Well-educated on reproductive health and contraception
  • A regular patient of a pro-choice gynecologist, who will not refuse to give me the services, information or referrals I need
  • Fortunate to have that gynecologist working at a hospital that isn’t Catholic 
  • Living in a city where only a few protestors mill about outside of the nearest clinic
  • Within walking distance of that clinic (which is a good thing since I am car-free)
  • Over 17 (okay, make that WAY over 17) and not in fear of being kicked out of the house based on my decision to have a child
  • Surrounded by friends and family who provide encouragement and support, but respect me and trust me to make my own decisions
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Let the Patient Beware

Posted by Jill C. Morrison, Senior Counsel | Posted on: December 23, 2008 at 01:59 pm

by Jill Morrison, Senior Counsel
National Women’s Law Center

The Vatican just released another proclamation on sins you can commit at the doctor’s office. This time it’s the IUD, emergency contraception, and infertility treatment, specifically, in vitro fertilization and related procedures, freezing embryos and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). PGD allows parents-to-be to identify which embryos don’t carry life-long painful genetic diseases that an eventual child will have to live with, like cystic fibrosis or sickle cell anemia.

While lots of you may know about pharmacy refusals, a lesser known area of NWLC’s religious restrictions work addresses barriers to reproductive health care in hospitals. The largest number of religiously-affiliated hospitals with the broadest range of restrictions are Catholic-owned. These hospitals are run under the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services (also known as the ERDs or the Directives). So what are these Directives?

The Directives were written by the Committee on Doctrine of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to: 1) reaffirm the Church’s commitment to the Catholic health care ministry and 2) issue an authoritative document that provides guidance and clarity on the Church’s position (packaged as moral principles) on contemporary challenges faced by today’s Catholic healthcare executives and providers. Of course Catholic hospitals don’t provide abortions, but then again, very few hospitals do. The real impact of the Directives is on other services – those services many people wouldn’t think twice about possibly being restricted, including, birth control, emergency contraception, surgical sterilizations, counseling on the use of condoms to prevent HIV and other STDs, and infertility services. Not only will some hospitals that abide by the ERDs not provide these services, but they won’t even provide information or referrals for them.

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"Pro-life"? Puh-lease!

Posted by Jill C. Morrison, Senior Counsel | Posted on: October 22, 2008 at 06:19 pm

by Jill Morrison, Senior Counsel
National Women's Law Center

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