Professor of Law Janet K. Levit has long been an advocate for human rights and issues affecting women and families.
Levit, who previously served as provost and interim president of The University of Tulsa and dean of the College of Law, is now back in the classroom leading a practicum about reproductive justice.
“I studied international law and human rights in college and in law school and worked on several cases abroad under various human rights treaties,” she said. “That was one of the foci of my academic interests. I wrote a lot about countries that were transitioning from dictatorships to democracies, particularly in South America, and how those countries dealt with human rights violations.
“When I moved from the provost and interim president position back to teaching, I joined the board of the Center for Reproductive Rights because I felt like that was a place where I could share my interests in assuring that reproductive rights were available to all women.
“That was before the Dobbs decision,” she said, referring to the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that overturned the constitutional right to an abortion. “Obviously, there’s been a lot of activity since.”
Levit now serves as the vice chair of the center’s board.
At UTulsa, Levit founded the reproductive justice practicum. Students work with local and national nonprofit organizations that are interested in examining how the state’s strict abortion bans affect the health and prosperity of Oklahomans.
The practicum is a collaboration with the O’Neill Institute of National and Global Health Law affiliated with Georgetown Law Center in Washington, D.C. Students in the practicum are each assigned to represent an organization and help them answer questions arising from the state’s abortion bans. Students spent time in rural courthouses gathering documents, as well as interviewing prosecutors, defense attorneys, hospital administrators, and child welfare specialists.
Last spring, the practicum presented its research to reproductive health experts at Georgetown Law Center and to the White House’s Gender Policy Council.
“The students hit it out of the ballpark in their presentations in Washington. This was the highlight of my teaching career,” recounts Levit. “At Georgetown, students presented to a standing-room-only crowd, and they fielded questions from those who have been working on issues of related to reproductive justice for decades.
“So often, those who work on these types of issues on the coasts have no real-time, on-the-ground insight into states like Oklahoma. Our students not only provide research but also an invaluable perspective.”
Students who have participated in the practicum find it particularly rewarding.
“It is especially tough in middle America to discuss reproductive rights because the conversation always veers immediately to abortion and the myriad questions of morality that lay behind it,” said third-year law student Stephanie Smith. “This practicum has shown me and my fellow students that there is so much more to reproductive health and access than a black-and-white question of abortion legality, and that there are a number of severe legal injustices occurring amidst our state’s desire to ban abortion.
“It is my understanding that not everyone in our course is pro-choice. That is a testament to the type of work we are doing, the kinds of legal questions we are answering, and the importance that we as law students are putting on our current and future right to reproductive health care.”
Kelsey Hancock is a part-time law student who jumped at the chance to take the practicum. “Oklahoma is in a rough spot when it comes to women’s health,” they said. “Professor Levit knows this body of law. She’s always thinking ahead, and she’s always trying to figure out the best policy for all people.”
Twenty-five years from now, Hancock added, it will be this work that matters, “because it’s this kind of work that changes people’s lives.”