First Meeting to Convene at the National Conference of State Legislatures in Nashville
SEATTLE, August 7, 2006—The Center for Women
Policy Studies and the Women’s Bioethics Project (WBP) today announced
the formation of the first-ever State Legislative Advisory Board on
Women and Bioethics. The bipartisan 15-member board is made up of
progressive state legislative leaders from around the country. The
first meeting of the newly formed board will be held in conjunction
with the annual meeting of the National Conference of State
Legislatures (NCSL) on Monday, Aug. 14, 2006, 3–5 p.m. at the Gaylord
Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn. The meeting
is open to the public.
The advisory board meeting will feature a presentation by Dr. Robin N.
Fiore, who is the Adelaide R. Snyder Professor of Ethics at Florida
Atlantic University. Dr. Fiore’s presentation will cover a full range
of bioethics issues ranging from end-of-life issues and the effect of
the Terry Schiavo case to stem cell research and its impact on women’s
reproductive rights and health. Following the presentation, the
legislative leaders attending the meeting will assist the Center for
Women Policy Studies and the WBP in planning a Bioethics Seminar for
Women State Legislative Leaders, which will take place in 2007.
According to Leslie R. Wolfe, Ph.D., president of the Center for Women
Policy Studies, “This meeting will provide a forum for state
legislators to discuss the challenges they face in understanding the
ethical implications of legislative issues pending at the state level.”
Wolfe, whose organization works with legislators on a range of key
policy issues, noted that, “State legislators need support to preserve
women’s decision-making rights on all these complex issues.”
“We are delighted to have such an impressive group of state legislators
to advise us. We are focusing on the state legislative level because
that’s where many of these complicated bioethical issues tend to
emerge,” said Kathryn M. Hinsch, founder of the WBP. “We firmly believe
that women’s voices need to be heard, because women are uniquely
affected by issues in biotechnology and healthcare. By providing
legislative leaders with the support they need to champion these
issues, we can help ensure that the entire spectrum of human experience
is represented on these critical issues.”
The founding members of the state legislative bioethics advisory board are listed here:
State Senate Majority Leader, Washington
State Senator, Utah
State Senator, Missouri
State Senator, Nebraska
State Senator, Maryland
State Senator, Washington
State Senator, New Jersey
State Senator, Connecticut
State Senator, Iowa
Former State Senate Majority Leader, Kansas
State Representative, North Dakota
State Representative, Arizona
State Representative, Pennsylvania
State Delegate, Maryland
State Secretary of Administration, Virginia
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