University of Virginia Law Professor Anne Coughlin joins us this week to discuss the origins of the Molly Pitcher Project,  a project that started in a law classroom and grew into real world change. She walks through how her and her students built out the legal foundations of the case as a classroom assignment. Her reflections on how her students committed themselves to litigating this case in real life, beyond the classroom, reminds us that we can effect change even as students. Her thoughtful consideration of how a potential lawsuit would impact women displays a true commitment to creating meaningful and needed change without losing sight of the people they were representing. Her and her students are an example to us all (especially to those first year law students like us) that sometimes when you think that someone should bring this case to court… that person is you. 

Read more about her and her team: 

https://www.law_.viriginia.edu/news/2011_fall/women_in_combat.htm

https://www.law.virignia.edu/news/2013_spr/pitcher_update.htm

https://www.law.virignia.edu/news/2013_spr/combat_exclusion_lifted.htm 

Read about the Army’s response to Dobbs: 

https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3077695/dod-official-no-changes-to-womens-essential-health-care/