Join Pregnancy Justice and Level Forward for an essential discussion of pregnancy and motherhood with leading experts Khiara M. Bridges, Irin Carmon, and Lourdes A. Rivera, who will be in conversation about the recent, profound changes to reproductive rights and justice, centering the experiences of pregnant people of color, and their efforts to defend the rights and dignity for pregnant people. 

Plus, experience a sneak peak of MOTHER JUSTICE – a new narrative short film series with truth-telling fiction honoring Black Motherhood, backed by research and possibilities – created by Level Forward in partnership with Population Media Center. An actor will perform a monologue from Lauren Whitehead’s Cliff & Clara & Her Baby.

Khiara M. Bridges is an anthropologist and Professor of Law at UC Berkeley School of Law. Her newest book, Expecting Inequity: How the Maternal Health Crisis Affects Even the Wealthiest Black Americans, was released in March 2026.

Irin Carmon is a senior correspondent at New York Magazine and a New York Times bestselling author. Her most recent book is Unbearable: Five Women and the Perils of Pregnancy in America. 

Lourdes A. Rivera is the president of Pregnancy Justice, a legal nonprofit and advocacy organization that advances and defends pregnant people's rights no matter if they give birth, experience a pregnancy loss, or have an abortion.

There will be an opportunity to purchase signed copies of Expecting Inequity and Unbearable at the event.

This panel is held in partnership with Monuments to Motherhood, a fifteen-foot-tall bronze sculpture situated in Prospect Park, honoring caregiving in all its forms, recognizing those who nurture, sustain, and support their communities—often in ways that go unseen. Across the country, public statuary rarely reflects these essential contributions, and the role of care remains largely overlooked in civic spaces.