Shari Inniss-Grant, Fellow

Shari Inniss-Grant was a Georgetown Women’s Rights and Public Policy Fellow for Reproductive Rights at the National Women’s Law Center. She focused on researching and tracking litigation opposing the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive coverage benefit, organizing the Reproductive Law & Policy 101 summer training, and advancing reproductive health care. While she grew up in St. Thomas, Barbados, she moved to Washington, DC to study English Literature at Howard University before attending law school. During her time at Yale Law School, Shari explored the politics of intersectionality through the Rebellious Lawyering Conference; worked with the LGBT Litigation Project; served as director for the Temporary Restraining Order Project, a domestic violence initiative; helped a client apply for legal relief through VAWA as an intern at New Haven Legal Assistance; and participated in the Lowenstein Human Right Clinic, where her small team worked with the American Civil Liberties Union to investigate the trafficking of Third Country Nationals (TCNs) on American bases by US government contractors and publish “Victims of Complacency: The Ongoing Trafficking and Abuse of Third Country Nationals by U.S. Government Contractors.”

My Take

Will Eden Foods Chairman Change His Tune Today to Save His Lawsuit against Birth Control Coverage?

Posted by Shari Inniss-Grant, Fellow | Posted on: May 10, 2013 at 01:41 pm

Today in court, will Eden Foods’ President, Michael Potter, change his tune? Potter is one of the many for-profit business owners suing the government because he does not want to cover birth control in his employees’ health plans, as required by the health care law. Some speculate that Potter’s recent statements have cast doubt on his motivation and undermined his case. During today’s oral arguments his lawyers will attempt to reconcile his legal claims with his many statements to the contrary.

Potter has spent weeks talking up in the media his opposition to the contraceptive coverage benefit. He’s stated that he opposes the contraceptive coverage benefit because he questions “what gives [the federal government] the right to tell [him] that [he has] to [cover birth control].” But here’s the thing: he’s admitted he would not have cared if it was “Jack Daniels or birth control”—it’s the principle. Potter’s admitted that the root issue—“the beginning and ending of the story”—is the government trying to tell him what to do. As he said, “[he’s] got more interest in good quality long underwear than [he has] in birth control pills.”

Today, during oral arguments for the preliminary injunction, his tune may change. Contrary to his many statements, his lawyers will try to convince a Michigan district court that Mr. Potter’s religious beliefs motivate his attempt to deny his employees (and their families) the comprehensive insurance they are entitled to. That’s because the claims Potter is making require a violation of religious exercise. But proving religious beliefs are at issue won’t be an easy task. When asked what particular religious belief led him to oppose the benefit, Potter said “Well, there isn’t any one particular religious belief… I find it hard to get my head around the question.”

Crisis Pregnancy Centers Undermine the Reproductive Health of Women of Color

Posted by Shari Inniss-Grant, Fellow | Posted on: March 28, 2013 at 10:47 am

Traveling on subways in NY, I often saw ads asking if a woman was “alone, scared, pregnant” and suggesting she call a Crisis Pregnancy Center (CPC) hotline for help. Spread throughout the city, these seemingly-innocuous English and Spanish ads often faded into the background—designed to capture your attention only if you, a friend, or family member needed help.

Since one in two pregnancies across the U.S. is unintended, women daily face a need for reproductive healthcare that might prompt them to call one of the 2,500 to 4000 CPCs located across the country. Unfortunately, instead of offering transparent, unbiased, comprehensive information that allows a woman to make her own informed choices, CPCs adamantly advocate against abortion regardless of the woman’s life and health circumstances, and needs.

If you’ve been reading our blog, you know we just launched a toolkit that helps women who have been deceived by CPCs’ harmful tactics to file complaints and seek justice. What you may not know, is that CPCs have been deliberately targeting women of color in urban communities.

5 Reasons Why We’re Part of the One Billion Rising in Protest Against Violence Against Women

Posted by Shari Inniss-Grant, Fellow | Posted on: February 14, 2013 at 05:33 pm

As individuals willing to give voice to troubling problems and struggle towards difficult solutions, we rise on behalf of women.

As partners, advocates, family and friends, we rise in collaboration with survivors.

As a global community, we rise through women’s progress.

Rise for VAWA! These are the simple but fundamental truths V-day encourages us to reflect on. While it is often painful and uncomfortable to talk about the culture of violence and oppression that leads to 1 in 3 women being assaulted, beaten, or raped in her lifetime, the alternative is unthinkable. Silence is not an answer. Ignorance, as we’ve seen through the intense backlash against misguided statements related to assault, is not bliss. And the problem will not simply go away if we leave it alone.

However tattered, ugly, or shocking the truth may be, only by addressing facts rather than falling back on myths can we craft solutions (be they legislative, cultural or community-based) that truly improve people’s lives.

Myth 1: Violence against women is rare.

Truth: Violence toward women is extremely common. 1 in 3 women, approximately, 1 billion women, will experience violence in her lifetime. A perpetrator is more likely to be an intimate partner or family member than a stranger. In the U.S. a woman is beaten or assaulted every 9 seconds.

Why Black, White and Latina Young Women Need (and Celebrate) Roe

Posted by Shari Inniss-Grant, Fellow | Posted on: January 22, 2013 at 01:52 pm

won't you celebrate with me
what i have shaped into
a kind of life? i had no model.

When my coworker posed the question, why are you celebrating women being able to access preventative services without a copay, my answer was sure and simple, “Because women deserve it.”

Not everyone agrees with that statement. If the last months of public debate have shown anything, it’s that there are a wide variety of views on the women’s right to access reproductive healthcare. Some people think it is good public policy and long overdue; others think that it’s a gift or worse, immoral.

I’m personally inclined to side with Justice Ginsberg. In reflecting on Roe she said, “[In] the balance is a woman’s autonomous charge of her full life’s course, her ability to stand in relation to men, society and to stay as an independent, self-sustaining equal citizen.” As I celebrate the ACA and Roe, I celebrate women’s ability to build lives they lives they desire. I’m grateful that reproductive healthcare is one of the tools that expands rather than constrains women’s decisions.

born in babylon
both nonwhite and woman
what did i see to be except myself?

Tags: Abortion, Birth Control, Reproductive Health & Rights, Roe v. Wade | 1 comment

The ACA Contraceptive Coverage Lawsuits: The Employee’s Right to Comprehensive Insurance Coverage

Posted by Shari Inniss-Grant, Fellow | Posted on: November 21, 2012 at 12:23 pm

Last week at a lunch with African advocates for women’s rights, we discussed pregnancy rates in Africa and the United States. Across the continents one thing remained constant—women have better outcomes when they are able to control their fertility. They enjoy greater freedom to pursue academic studies or careers, and to plan their lives as they see fit.

The ACA’s contraceptive coverage rule affords 47 million women this freedom by ensuring that they will be able to access birth control and related information through private insurance without having to worry about the cost. While many celebrate the anticipated improvements to women and children’s health, others are infuriated by the rule.

Opponents to birth control have made speeches decrying the rule, hosted conferences and brought lawsuit, after lawsuit, after lawsuit... Since the lawsuits have proved to be a publicity-gaining tool, we can anticipate many more.

Shari Inniss-Grant, Fellow

My Take

Will Eden Foods Chairman Change His Tune Today to Save His Lawsuit against Birth Control Coverage?

Crisis Pregnancy Centers Undermine the Reproductive Health of Women of Color

5 Reasons Why We’re Part of the One Billion Rising in Protest Against Violence Against Women

Why Black, White and Latina Young Women Need (and Celebrate) Roe

The ACA Contraceptive Coverage Lawsuits: The Employee’s Right to Comprehensive Insurance Coverage

How You Can Help

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Shari Inniss-Grant, Fellow

My Take

Will Eden Foods Chairman Change His Tune Today to Save His Lawsuit against Birth Control Coverage?

Crisis Pregnancy Centers Undermine the Reproductive Health of Women of Color

5 Reasons Why We’re Part of the One Billion Rising in Protest Against Violence Against Women

Why Black, White and Latina Young Women Need (and Celebrate) Roe

The ACA Contraceptive Coverage Lawsuits: The Employee’s Right to Comprehensive Insurance Coverage

How You Can Help

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