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Emily Berger: Equal Justice Works Fellowship Recipient, Rutgers School of Law-Newark, Newark, NJ [By Rebecca Unzicker] A stint during college as co-host of a sexuality talk radio show was the beginning of a journey for Emily Berger that led her to law school and to being awarded an Equal Justice Works Fellowship in January. Called Sex Positions, the show explored platforms on issues including sexuality and gender.
“I spoke to sex educators who had been
“The next year, I began working with teen
crippled by the government’s abstinence-
moms in foster care for my social work
only policy and realized that for me to do the
internship, and the shift in my focus from
work I needed to do, I needed to work within
reproductive rights to foster care policy and
law and policy rather than merely be at its
advocacy evolved really naturally. Now, with
mercy,” Berger said.
my Equal Justice Fellowship, I will provide a full range of legal and social services to
Determined to become a reproductive-rights
teens transitioning out of foster care to help
attorney, Berger enrolled at Rutgers-Newark
them lead more empowered lives, which
because of its commitment to public interest,
is what advocating for reproductive rights
strong clinical program, and affordable
always meant to me in the first place.”
tuition. She founded the Rutgers-Newark Law Students for Choice chapter during her
Having grown up in a privileged home in West
first year. After completing an internship
Los Angeles, Berger is an unlikely candidate
with National Advocates for Pregnant
to identify with the underdog. Her earliest
Women, Berger expanded her areas of
awareness of social injustice developed
interest to include issues surrounding
when she was somewhat ostracized by
poverty and race. Rooted in a passion to help
her exclusive private school classmates
the underrepresented in society, Berger’s
because her family did not own a plethora
project will combine legal representation,
of cell phones and did not even have a home
advocacy, and community education for
computer.
children leaving the foster care system due to age.
“I think that being made to feel as though I was less than, even though I was still in a
Having a history of advocating for the
privileged position within the larger society,
reproductive rights of women, Berger now
helped develop my social consciousness,”
wants to provide a full range of legal and social
Berger said.
services to teens transitioning out of foster care to help them lead empowered lives.
The Equal Justice Works Fellowship program, the nation’s largest postgraduate
“I interned with Lynn Paltrow at National
legal fellowship program, places new
Advocates for Pregnant Women my first
lawyers from law schools across the country
summer,” Berger said, “and became more
in two-year assignments at public-interest
knowledgeable about issues surrounding
organizations. In September, Berger will
poverty and race, as well as expanded my
implement her project as a fellow of the
understanding of what ‘reproductive rights’
Alliance for Children’s Rights in Los Angeles.
really means.” PAGE
What Berger enjoys most about the study of law is studying how the law has changed over the years. “It was not so long ago that interracial marriages were illegal, that women did not have the right to choose their reproductive futures, and that one could break the law purely because of his or her sexuality,” Berger said. “We still have a long way to go before everyone is treated equally under the law, but studying how legal activists enacted change is both inspiring and educational.” After law school, Berger would like to establish a comprehensive community organization that provides a full range of services for youth between the ages of 12 and 21. She is also interested in working at the government level to improve foster care policy. “An enormous percentage of homeless youth in America are former foster youth, and I believe this is a tremendous waste,” Berger said. “These youth have so much potential but are given less than a decent chance to survive and thrive.”
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