Professor Carole Joffe, sociologist and Professor emerita from the University of California, Davis will join Lina-Maria Murillo, Assistant Professor of Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies and History at UI, and Francine Thompson, Executive Director of the Emma Goldman Clinic, to discuss Joffe’s new book Obstacle Course: The Everyday Struggle to Get an Abortion in America. Since this talk is taking place just a few days after the election and on the heels of Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court, we hope to have a robust conversation on the past, present, and future of abortion provision in the United States from the perspective of scholars and providers in the field.  

Francine Thompson is the Executive Director of the Emma Goldman Clinic. The Clinic has the distinction of being the oldest, continuously operating, not for profit, feminist identified provider of abortion care in the US. In her role as the Director Emma Goldman Clinic, Francine Thompson is responsible for the operations and management of the abortion, gynecology and other health service departments at the clinic. Her 33 years as an Administrator of an independent, feminist health care clinic that provides abortion care has given her extensive experience in reproductive health care management. She has overseen the development and implementation of many cutting edge services, the most recent include transgender care including hormone therapy, and PEP and PREP, which involve prophylaxis for HIV exposure. She continues to be challenged and motivated with the unending assaults within the reproductive justice and abortion care movement. Her passion includes training students and volunteers and the next generation of feminist, health care providers and activists.