Intersection of Domestic Violence & Reproductive Justice – Where Do the Delineations Fall?

Discussion of how living in a Post Roe America after the US Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs – overturning 50 years of legal precedent on abortion – sending it back for individual states to determine. How this decision has negatively affected pregnant women, especially those living in abusive conditions across the country, and specifically in states that have severe restrictions on reproductive healthcare access. Where mortality statistics now show: it is now 3 times more dangerous for pregnant women living in abusive conditions where states are setting abortion laws; how data now reveals increased maternal mortality during pregnancy, or shortly after the birth of the child.

Continue reading

The Sound of Silence – The Hidden Epidemic of Domestic Abuse and Trauma

Guest: Judith Herman, MD, formerly a full-time Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, at Harvard Medical School; and co-founder former Director of Training at the Victims of Violence Program in the Department of Psychiatry, at Cambridge Hospital, Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is the author of several books, including the groundbreaking book, Trauma and Recovery, The Aftermath of Violence – From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror.

Discussion on the insidiousness and pervasiveness of domestic abuse – and the mistreatment of victims by the very people and institutions that should be protecting them. How these institutions have functioned for generations with impunity, including the Catholic Church, Hollywood, government and even the private sector. She explores what it is like for victims who suffer repeated abuse as well as institutional bias – where victims are treated with contempt by society, by the judicial system and even their own families.

Continue reading

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month – Renowned Researcher on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) – Featured on 60 Minutes Speaks to The Legal Edition

October 26, 2020 – In my recent interview with Dr. Roger Pitman, Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and practitioner at Massachusetts General Hospital, we discussed many issues including PTSD – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which has as its hallmark, debilitating memories, flashbacks, and intense emotions that traumatized women,…

Continue reading