Ruth Dawson is staff attorney at the ACLU of Southern California.
Ruth joined ACLU SoCal as a reproductive justice fellow in April 2013, where she conducted legal, policy and community engagement work on reproductive justice, gender equity and LGBT issues.
Her work focuses on expanding access to the broad range of reproductive and sexual health care services, protecting youth access to confidential health care, upholding the health and dignity of incarcerated women and promoting the rights of pregnant and parenting workers. Ruth is increasingly focusing advocacy at the intersection of reproductive and economic justice.
She graduated in 2012 with a J.D. and a Masters of Public Health from Emory University, where she was recognized with the Outstanding 3L Commitment to Public Service award by the Emory Public Interest Committee and was a Justice John Paul Stevens Public Interest Fellow. While at Emory, Ruth co-founded a chapter of Law Students for Reproductive Justice and completed a thesis about reproductive health law and policy in the Deep South. Prior to graduate school, Ruth managed a Bay Area reproductive health clinic and participated in the Coro Fellows Program in Public Affairs in Los Angeles. Ruth currently serves on the board of the Planned Parenthood Young Professionals, facilitates the Reproductive Justice Coalition of Los Angeles and is a member of the Population, Reproductive & Sexual Health Section of the American Public Health Association.
