Lynn M. Paltrow, J.D., is the Founder and Executive Director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women ("NAPW"). Ms. Paltrow is a graduate of Cornell University and New York University School of Law. She has worked on numerous cases challenging restrictions on the right to choose abortion as well cases opposing the prosecution and punishment of pregnant women seeking to continue their pregnancies to term. Ms. Paltrow has served as a senior staff attorney at the ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Project, as Director of Special Litigation at the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, and as Vice President for Public Affairs for Planned Parenthood of New York City. Ms. Paltrow conceived of and filed the first affirmative federal civil rights challenge to a hospital policy of searching pregnant women for evidence of drug use and turning that information over to the police. In the case of Ferguson et. al., v. City of Charleston et. al., the United States Supreme Court agreed that such a policy violates the 4th amendment's protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Through her work as a national litigator and strategist in cases involving the intersection of the war on reproductive freedom and the war on drugs, Ms. Paltrow recognizes the need for a shift in the reproductive rights paradigm – away from divisive (and inaccurate) “pro-choice” and “anti-choice” categorizations and toward a set of inclusive, positive reproductive and family justice values around which a broad base of allies can mobilize. As Executive Director of NAPW Ms. Paltrow combines legal advocacy with grassroots activism and grasstops advocacy and policy work to bring about this shift.
to help bring about this shift. She is a frequent guest lecturer and writer for popular press, law reviews and medical journals and is the recipient of the Arthur Garfield Hays Civil Liberties Fellowship, the Georgetown Women's Law and Public Policy Fellowship, the Justice Gerald Le Dain Award for Achievement in the Field of Law, and was selected in 2005 as one of 21 Leaders for the 21st Century by Women’sEnews.

Blog Entries by Lynn M. Paltrow

American Life League: Anti-Abortion "Personhood" Measures Really Will Hurt All Pregnant Women

1 Comments | Posted August 5, 2009 | 06:07 PM (EST)


NAPW's video "How Personhood USA & The Bills They Support Will Hurt ALL Pregnant Women" and an earlier version that both appeared on the Huffingtonpost.com are attracting the attention of anti-abortion organizations who advance Personhood Measures across the country. These measures would grant "unborn"...

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Pregnant Women and Mothers Deserve Better

2 Comments | Posted July 29, 2009 | 05:23 PM (EST)


In the aftermath of Dr. George Tiller's murder many people have asked whether anti-abortion rhetoric constitutes "hate speech" or an "incitement to terrorism." This rhetoric includes language describing abortion as a form of violence, as torture, an attack on innocent life, executing a child, killing, baby-killing, murder, child murder, mass...

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In Memory of Dr. George Tiller - He Supported Women's Dignity

12 Comments | Posted June 2, 2009 | 10:54 AM (EST)


On May 31, 2009, Dr. George Tiller was murdered. When I think of Dr. Tiller and his clinic I think of compassion. What Dr. Tiller and his staff did each and every day was to give women their dignity.

Barely two weeks ago, when President Obama gave the commencement...

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Obama, the Bishops and the "Right to Life"

Posted May 15, 2009 | 05:40 PM (EST)


More than 55 leading Catholic Bishops, all members of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops, are speaking out against the University of Notre Dame's decision to host and honor President Barak Obama at their commencement ceremony on the 17th. Much of their ire is due to President Obama's support...

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The Bishops and the "Right to Life"

22 Comments | Posted May 15, 2009 | 04:48 PM (EST)


More than 55 leading Catholic Bishops, all members of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops, are speaking out against the University of Notre Dame's decision to host and honor President Barak Obama at their commencement ceremony on the 17th. Much of their ire is due to President Obama's support...

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Concerned About Coerced Abortions? Try Saying No to Cesarean Surgery

Posted April 24, 2009 | 12:15 PM (EST)


Last year Idaho passed a law making it a crime to coerce a woman into having an abortion. This year, legislators in twelve states, including Missouri, have passed or are considering bills that they claim would enhance informed consent measures for pregnant women seeking abortions and...

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Do People Who Support "Traditional Values" Value Pregnant Women?

Posted March 30, 2009 | 06:25 PM (EST)


I have to thank Andrea Lafferty, of the Traditional Values Coalition for her response to a piece I wrote opposing Personhood USA's efforts to give full constitutional rights to the unborn from the moment of fertilization. In her commentary she hopes to discredit my organization,

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How PersonhoodUSA Will Hurt All Pregnant Women

Posted March 24, 2009 | 11:22 AM (EST)


PersonhoodUSA apparently sees itself as the new, hipper, more effective incarnation of the anti-abortion movement. PersonhoodUSA hopes that by establishing the "pre-born, as legal persons with protection under the law" it will end the "injustice of abortion." Its attempt to do this last November through a "personhood" ballot measure in...

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Video: How Anti-Abortion Measures Can Hurt All Pregnant Women

Posted October 31, 2008 | 10:45 AM (EST)


National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW) Video Urges Colorado and South Dakota Residents to Vote No on 48 and 11.

Anti-Abortion Measures Can Hurt All Women.

As the abortion issue takes center stage and we count down to Election Day, NAPW has produced a video about the proposed measures in...

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Open Letter to Governor Sarah Palin -- How Your Position on Abortion Hurts All Pregnant Women

Posted September 8, 2008 | 06:44 PM (EST)


Dear Governor Sarah Palin:

Many Americans agree with your position regarding abortion -- they do this as a matter of faith, ethics, personal experience and sometimes politics. We are just wondering though, if you have thought about what would happen if you succeeded in getting your position -- that fetuses...

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A Post-Roe World With Criminal Penalties Our Mothers Could Not Have Imagined

Posted January 27, 2006 | 08:09 PM (EST)


With the 33rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade just past, many fear that it will be the last. US Supreme Court nominee Sam Alito, for example has stated that he believes that Roe, the 1973 decision recognizing a woman's fundamental right to choose to have an abortion, has no foundation...

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