If/When/How’s Quick Question series highlights the work of our Reproductive Justice Fellows, introducing our network to the incredible advocates who are dedicating their lives to the movement to lawyer for reproductive justice. We’re so proud of the work they’re doing at placement organizations across the country to ensure that everyone has the ability to safely decide if, when, and how to create and sustain their families, and to actualize sexual and reproductive wellbeing on their own terms.

Cammie Dodson is the Professional Development Manager at If/When/How, where she trains and mentors law students and lawyers navigating careers in reproductive health, rights, and justice. Cammie manages the Reproductive Justice Fellowship Program (RJFP), which gives her the honor of helping launch the careers of the next generation of reproductive justice advocates.

Cammie is a proud alum of the Reproductive Justice Fellowship Program; she served as an RJ-HIV Fellow at Positive Women’s Network – USA in Oakland, CA in 2016-2017. There, she supported women and people of trans experience living with HIV in policy advocacy focused on ending the criminalization of people living with HIV. During law school, Cammie organized with people in women’s prisons, worked to combat the criminalization of pregnant people, researched reproductive and racial justice issues, and clerked at civil rights, youth justice, and reentry organizations. Cammie holds a B.A. in International Studies with a focus in Health and Human Rights from the University of Washington and a J.D. from UC Berkeley School of Law.

Cammie is passionate about supporting new and aspiring lawyers in reaching their professional goals, especially those who don’t see themselves represented in “traditional” legal spaces. In running If/When/How’s Professional Development programs, Cammie aims to provide students and lawyers with the skills and support they need to confidently navigate, thrive in, and even defy “professional” environments and expectations, so that they can bring their most authentic, badass selves to the work!

We asked Cammie to tell us about her journey from RJ-HIV Fellow to Professional Development Manager at If/When/How, and the ways in which the RJFP is expanding what it means to lawyer for reproductive justice.

If/When/How: Why is the Reproductive Justice Fellowship Program so important?

Cammie Dodson: The RJFP (which is entering its second decade!) has enabled If/When/How to build a deep bench of attorneys from diverse backgrounds who are dedicated to using their skills and legal training to advance reproductive rights and justice. With the incoming class, the RJFP will have launched the careers of more than 80 new attorneys — many of whom have stayed in the RHRJ field and still contribute to vital work that is so needed in this increasingly hostile political environment. Wherever Fellows end up after they complete the Fellowship, they carry the reproductive justice frame with them and bring their communities with them into the spaces they work in.

The RJFP also provides critical capacity to organizations leading the fight to expand reproductive justice at the local, state, and national level. We are proud to partner with organizations that are led by and center communities disproportionately harmed by reproductive oppression – people of color, LGBTQ folks, immigrants, young people. Fellows have the opportunity to learn from and support these organizations working on the ground to advance reproductive justice in their communities.

If/When/How: How does the RJFP differ from other fellowship programs?

CD: One thing that makes the RJFP unique is that it focuses on policy and allows fellows to develop skills they don’t usually have the chance to learn in law school, like community organizing, leadership development, and coalition-building. This allows new lawyers to use their skills creatively and carve a nontraditional lawyering path for themselves right out of law school.

If/When/How: What’s great about our RJ Fellows and alums? What’s exciting about this year’s cohort?

CD: The RJ Fellow community is full of truly brilliant, caring, down-to-earth people who continually show up for If/When/How and reproductive justice in countless ways. I am very excited about the new cohort of Fellows who are starting in the fall – they all bring such unique perspectives and tremendous passion for the regions and issues their organizations focus on. I will let them speak for themselves in their individual bios (editor’s note: you can meet the ‘20-21 cohort here on our blog!), but I am deeply impressed by the personal connections this class of fellows has to reproductive justice and I look forward to seeing them put their interests and talents into action this fall.

If/When/How: As a former fellow yourself, how does your experience inform your management of the program?

CD: As a former Fellow, I know how demanding working in reproductive health, rights, and justice policy can be, and I understand the emotional toll it can take on those working daily to illuminate and challenge oppressive systems. I try to create space for Fellows to acknowledge how tough the work can be, while encouraging them to recognize everything they are contributing and learning so that they can truly step into and own their role in this movement. In the current environment, small wins really do matter, and I hope the Fellows understand the positive impact they are having on their organizations and the broader movement, even when bigger victories feel out of reach.

There’s so much to learn about being an attorney working in reproductive justice spaces and how to be in true partnership with communities who are most impacted (I think figuring out where and how you fit into this work is a lifelong journey). I do my best to encourage Fellows to think deeply about the experiences, identities, privileges, strengths, and passions that bring them to this work. I learn from each new group of Fellows and feel continually inspired to put reproductive justice values into practice in more meaningful and nuanced ways because of them. I hope that Fellows leave the RJFP with a strong sense of what they have to contribute and the confidence to bring their full selves to this work, while building on the RJFP to learn and grow as advocates throughout their careers.

I also know how important the Fellow cohort model is for supporting each other during and after the Fellowship, so I try to help build the fellow community and support connections between current and former fellows as much as possible.

If/When/How: What’s been your favorite part about being part of the growth and development of the RJFP? How do you hope it reshapes the legal field and advances reproductive justice? 

CD: It’s amazing to see how the program has evolved and shifted in response to the needs of the reproductive justice movement over the years. When the program started, it was focused on federal policy advocacy; now, we have two placements focused on the intersection of HIV and RJ, and we’ve added and expanded a State program with placements at key areas in the Southeast, where building capacity for advocacy at the state and regional is so important. I hope that we can continue to build a pipeline of new leaders who are committed to reproductive and racial justice and can bring their lived experiences and creativity to transform what lawyering looks like. I want the RJFP to continue to respond to the needs of the broader reproductive justice movement and build power on the ground where there is so much amazing advocacy and organizing to support.

If you’re as excited as we are to see If/When/How’s Reproductive Justice Fellowship Program succeed, donate $10 to help If/When/How support new lawyers for reproductive justice.