Law Students for Choice (LSFC)

Based in the United States of America, the Law Students for Choice organisation is run and led by law students with the aim of promoting and encouraging education and training in all aspects of reproductive rights and the laws surrounding them. Crucially, the Law Students for Choice organisation aims to achieve full succession by encouraging junior students to get involved in the Law Student for Choice, thus ensuring that there is a long line of lawyers willing to defend the causes raised.

Areas Dealt with by the Law Students for Choice Organisation

All universities deal with the Law Students for Choice Organisation in a slightly different way, but essentially they all have the same mission in mind. In all cases, the Law Students for Choice organisations aim to offer support, education and organisation to law students who are supporting pro-life causes. In this way, it could be said that the Law Students for Choice is an umbrella type organisation offering support for a range of different pro life organisations.

What is the Law Students for Choice Organisation?

In each university, the Law Students for Choice organisation is generally run as an open organisation in which anyone can take part. Depending on the size of the individual Law Students for Choice organisation, there may be additional rules in place regarding voting rights.

Each branch of the Law Students for Choice organisation conducts its activities in a slightly different way but, as a general rule, each Law Students for Choice organisation puts on a series of talks and lectures on areas of pro living such as pro choice abortion or access to contraception for all. As well as talks for students, the Law Students for Choice organisations in many universities will arrange internships in suitable organisations. For example, the University of Iowa’s branch of the Law Students for Choice organisation arranged an internship with the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Other Law Students for Choice organisations will have their own schemes, each following the underlying principles of pro choice.

Projects with the Law Students for Choice Organisation

Some of the more formalised Law Students for Choice organisations will tackle specific issues under the umbrella of pro choice. For example, the Law Students for Choice organisation in Richmond University has set four key objectives for their particular Law Students for Choice organisation. These advocates aim to defend the right for individuals to receive accurate medical information, to defend the right of individuals to receive access to contraception, to defend the right for everyone to receive safe and legal abortion and also the right to be free from forced sterilization.

Every Law Students for Choice organisation has its own set of priorities and will establish projects towards achieving these priorities. Many Law Students for Choice organisations will also work alongside the universities themselves to establish legal courses relating to reproductive law.

Joining a Law Students for Choice Organisation

As every university is part of the wider Law Students for Choice organisation, students from any campus can get involved with their local organisation. In almost all cases, the university’s Law Students for Choice organisation will only allow students of the university to be part of the active committee; however, they will welcome a range of speakers and have several open events. The Law Students for Choice organisation has education as one of its main aims and, as such, most university organisations will put on public lectures open to all to spread the word of the Law Students for Choice organisations.

Some Law Students for Choice organisation groups will be merged with other similar groups in order to give additional powers of scale. Typical combinations that go with the Law Students for Choice organisation include women’s lawyers associations and the pro-choice committees. Students who wish to join the Law Students for Choice organisation but do not have exactly the same motivations as the individual Law Students for Choice organisation in their own university could join a different organisation that is under the same umbrella but more closely affiliated with their own thoughts.

Importance of Law Students for Choice Organisations

Succession planning is so important for all Law Students for Choice organisations. Therefore, attracting young student lawyers to ensure that there is a constant stream of attorneys able to and willing to defend the issues raised by the Law Students for Choice organisations is crucial. Many of these issues do not generate revenue and rely on the pro bono work of lawyers. For this reason, Law Students for Choice organisations aim to gain support at the grass roots of law education to ensure ongoing support, as these law students become qualified attorneys.

Future of Law Students for Choice Organisations

The national organisation, now known widely as the Law Students for Choice, is relatively new. Some universities, particularly those with larger law departments and active student bodies, have gathered considerable strength in this area. Other universities are finding that their Law Students for Choice organisations are slower to get off the ground and need further support. These are the universities that tend to merge their Law Students for Choice organisations with other already established organisations such as that of the women’s lawyers. Some of the Law Students for Choice organisations have narrowed their scope further still; for example, the University of Richmond has a break- off group called the Law Students for Reproductive Justice.

Occasionally, and with increasing regularity, the Law Students for Choice organisations have become involved in campaigning. For example, the Law Students for Choice organisation in the University of Southern California has been involved to campaign against Proposition 73 which will require physicians to obtain parental (or guardian) approval of any abortion on a minor. This campaigning role will become a much more important aspect of the Law Students for Choice organisation as its membership and interests expand.

Crucially, Law Students for Choice aims to spread the word and to encourage all individuals to have a pro choice attitude when it comes to reproductive issues. Developing attorneys at the root will ensure ongoing support for these causes for years to come.