Women’s studies conference in Kentucky to attack ‘right wing’ laws on abortion, trans issues

The University of Kentucky will soon hold its 5th annual Gender and Women’s Studies conference, with this year’s theme focused on decrying so-called “right-wing … injustices.”

“Justice on Trial” is the theme for the Aug. 31 conference, as “right-wing parties” have “paved the way for conservative laws that harm the bodily autonomy of women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people, and other marginalized communities,” according to the conference website.

“Left-wing politicians and activists across the globe work for human rights and protections,” it stated. Some of the “injustices” the conference will address include “Anti-abortion laws, anti-trans laws, and encroachment on academic freedom,” according to the conference website.

But not all feminists agree laws protecting the unborn are an injustice.

“Pro-lifers are constantly being lectured by abortion businesses and their surrogates who frame abortion as ‘reproductive justice,’ a part of ‘women’s rights’ when they are actually wrongs against women and unborn children,” Serrin Foster, president of Feminists for Life, told The College Fix via email.

Feminists for Life has been active in Washington, D.C. since 1994. Foster is the only pro-life woman who served on the National Taskforce on Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence that passed the Violence Against Women Act.

“From the states to Congress to the U.N., we see attempts to slip in language in regulations and legislation that promote ‘freedom,’ ‘choice,’ and ‘reproductive health.’ Translation: Abortion. Nothing is as it seems,” Foster said.

The College Fix reached out to the email provided by the conference website to ask if any contrary voices would be featured at the conference, but did not receive a reply.

In addition to the topics like “anti-abortion” and “anti-trans” laws, the conference is accepting submissions for papers that address issues like “environmental justice,” “carceral justice,” and “immigration/refugee/border justice,” according to its website.

No keynote speakers or schedule for the conference have been announced. Past speakers include Andrea Jenkins, the first transgender black woman elected to public office in the U.S., who now serves as city council president of Minneapolis.