When Pregnant People Encounter The Justice System CLE
When pregnant people encounter the criminal legal system, there are many complex issues to consider. How can you get your client home pre-trial? If that isn’t possible, what legal protections are there in jail/prison? Are there alternatives for active time? What does the science tell us about pregnancy and incarceration, and how can we put it into practice?
Join us for a free, one-hour, live CLE to learn more about trends in female incarceration and the rights of pregnant individuals. The seminar will take place in the second floor jury room in the Buncombe County Courthouse, and lunch will be provided.
Presenters:
Liz Barber is the Director of Policy and Advocacy at the American Civil Liberties Union on North Carolina. She first joined the ACLU on NC to improve abortion access for minors and created Text Abby, a text line that connects youth to attorneys to help them navigate the judicial waiver process. Though she has maintained her focus on reproductive freedom, the breadth of her work has grown to include fighting anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation and more long term planning for improving reproductive healthcare in the state.
Prior to joining the ACLU, she was a partner at Barber & Barber, PLLC, a general practice law firm, where she focused on criminal defense. Liz was the president of Judicial District 15b Bar and the Chatham County Bar Association. She attended UNC-Chapel Hill for law School and attended the University of Virginia for undergraduate studies.
Liz lives in Chapel Hill with her family and enjoys running in her free time.
Megan Scull Williams is a Research Associate with the Collaborative for Maternal and Infant Health (CMIH) at UNC Chapel Hill, where she works to improve outcomes for moms and babies by bringing research-informed best practices into communities. For the past 20+ years, she has worked in non-profit organizations, health departments, universities, and the military, improving health outcomes and supporting reproductive justice. Recognizing the significant risk of poor birth outcomes among incarcerated pregnant people, Megan and CMIH colleagues have led a statewide Perinatal Incarceration workgroup for several years, and recently received funding from the CDC to address pregnancy-related risk in carceral settings.
Megan completed her undergraduate studies at The University of Notre Dame, and completed both a Master of Public Health and Master of Social Work from UNC Chapel Hill, where she was a Public Health Leadership Fellow. Megan lives in Asheville with her family and enjoys hiking to waterfalls and watching her kids’ many sports events.
This CLE is pending approval from the NC State Bar CLE Board.