May 18, 2023
May 2023: Jenny Ma
Jenny Ma (she/her)
Senior Counsel, Center for Reproductive Rights; Lecturer-in-Law, Columbia Law School; Vice Chair, NY ACS Lawyer Chapter
Lawyering for a cause is difficult work. You must vigorously represent your client’s interests, manage an inherently adversarial process, try to achieve the best results within the boundaries of the law, and juggle endless unpredictable balls in the air. And it’s all the more difficult if you are fighting to advance civil and human rights in the face of too many injustices and inequalities.
I have the great privilege of being a reproductive rights attorney. In that role, I represent healthcare providers, organizations, and patients that advocate for our ability to make basic decisions about our bodies, lives, and futures against those that want to take their rights away. Litigating in this area has certainly been tough over the years. Every legislative session, anti-abortion lawmakers passed ever increasingly cruel restrictions on reproductive healthcare, including abortion bans even as Roe v. Wade stood. That hostility reached a new apex when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe—wiping away nearly 50 years of precedent and taking away the constitutional right to abortion.
Stripped on our self-determination and bodily autonomy, the life and liberty of every Americans who can get pregnant is now threatened. Knowing that some people will suffer more than others, because of their race, income, age, gender orientation and identity, language facility, or immigration status, makes it difficult to sleep at night. Especially because my own intersecting identities—now and at various stages of my life—also makes me, members of my family, and others in my community more vulnerable.
Yet, the privilege I hold (education, position as a lawyer) allows me to play one small part in the fight for healthcare equity and access for all Americans. That goal inspires and drives. As does the community of mentors and mentees, colleagues, advocates, and supportive networks (like ACS) that uplifts and reminds us that lawyering for a more just tomorrow is absolutely worthwhile.