Lorie Chaiten – 2023 Hannah G Solomon Award

NCJW Chicago North Shore is proud to honor Lorie Chaiten with the 2023 Hannah G Solomon Award. This award is presented to a woman who has helped to change and expand the role of women in vital areas of community life, and whose leadership has motivated others to advocate for change. The award commemorates the spirit of Hannah G. Solomon, who founded the National Council of Jewish Women in 1893. It is the most prestigious award given by NCJW. Through her work with the National ACLU and the ACLU of Illinois, Lorie has been one of the most influential individuals in securing Reproductive Rights in Illinois and across the nation.

Lorie’s high profile accomplishments in reproductive rights litigation and advocacy have been apparent throughout her 38-year legal care, both in the private and public sector. Upon graduating from Ohio State University Law School, Lorie joined the firm of Sonnenschein, Carlin, Nath & Rosenthal (now Dentons LLP). Her very first trial was an abortion case in 1985, Ragsdale v. Turnock, which challenged Illinois’ extensive and burdensome licensing scheme for abortion clinics – or TRAP laws. It set the course for her career. In 2009, she left the private sphere and joined the ACLU of Illinois, where she served as long-time Director of the Women’s and Reproductive Rights Project. In this position, she led the organization’s work to secure rights to the full range of reproductive health care, medical privacy, and gender equality.

In 2018, Ms. Chaiten became Senior Staff attorney for the National ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. Currently, she primarily litigates challenges to unlawful abortion bans and other restrictions, provides legal compliance advice to abortion providers and others who support them and their patients. She also advances legal strategies to help abortion providers and supporters limit their risk as they assist patients increasingly forced to travel from their home states to access abortion care.

Her work does not stop there. She has taught courses in Reproductive Health and Justice at the University of Chicago Law School and the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. Ms. Chaiten is the Chair of the Board of the National Abortion Federation and the National Abortion Hotline, a founding Board Member of the Midwest Access Project, and a proud member of NCJW.

We are eternally grateful to Lorie Chaiten for boldly using her talents, brains, and tenacity to fight for people’s essential bodily autonomy rights that are under heavy attack, and for making such a huge difference in doing so.

Go back to purchase tickets to our Women of Justice Awards Gala here: https://ncjwcns.org/events/women-of-justice/