Where Are We Now: 50 Years After Roe

January 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the Roe v Wade ruling, just a year after this landmark legislation was overturned by the Supreme Court. In recognition of this historic event, and in response to the damaging repercussions of the recent Dobbs decision, the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation is convening the panel discussion, “Where Are We Now: 50 Years After Roe.“  

Presented by ArchiteXX and hosted by New York’s Center for Architecture on Monday, January 23rd at 6:00 p.m., the event opens a conversation on how the watershed ruling had far-reaching effects on women across the country and in all walks of life — and the significant harm created by its undoing. Asking, “Where do we stand 50 years later?” the esteemed panel includes Syracuse University’s noted expert Lori Brown FAIA and Cynthia Phifer Kracauer AIA, executive director of Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation (BWAF), a group dedicated to advancing women in architecture and allied professions. 

 “Crafting our foundation’s response to the overturning of Roe v Wade sparked a vigorous debate at BWAF,” says Kracauer. “My initial reaction was of anger and despair. With a desire to speak with personal authority about an abortion experience, I stumbled upon the sad truth that there are countless stories of abortions, both from the welcome, lifesaving and life-affirming perspective to the stories of dangers and horrors of unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortion practices. We need to hear them.” 

Elevating the focus on the destructive repercussions implied in the overturning of Roe overturning, Kracauer, the host and moderator of the talk, will be joined by panelists including Lori Brown, FAIA, professor at the Syracuse University School of Architecture and author of the acclaimed book Contested Space: Abortion Clinics, Women’s Shelters and Hospitals (Routledge, 2013). Brown brings unique expertise in architecture and women’s rights, and she famously worked with the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which is at the heart of the Supreme Court case. She has spoken and written on the barriers to building and operating women’s health clinics across the United States, and she cofounded the advocacy nonprofit ArchiteXX. 

 “This event offers an important opportunity for the history of this fundamental issue of women’s rights to be heard in our professional communities, and to acknowledge the triumphs and struggles of the last 50 years,” says Kracauer.