Boy how time flies! I hope you had a restful summer and were able to squeeze in a bit of vacation and time away. In our 24/7 world it seems harder and harder to unplug and summer just seems to fly by. 

Things were especially busy over the summer for us at the CBC. Some much-needed website updates were done. I had quite a few trips to give talks, including North Carolina, New York, and Spain and I also gave several media interviews for various television programs around the world. Finally, we started a brand-new project; keep reading, it’s revealed at the end of this letter!

Now, like many of you, in September, we hit the ground running hard and fast. We have our first Paul Ramsey Institute meeting with our 10 new Ramsey fellows, our three scholars and our two new junior scholars. It will be exciting for this group to come together and meet each other and begin their two-year training with us. I love seeing these young men and women growing in their knowledge, friendship, and professional expertise. Our fellowship program is unique in that it is multi-disciplinary. Our fellows come from medicine, law, nursing, science, ethics, philosophy, and theology, all to work toward a better understanding of Paul Ramsey’s approach to biomedical ethics. I can’t believe that almost 40 fellows have been through our program. 

September has me traveling to Arizona to give two lectures at Arizona State University’s “Program in Political History and Leadership” series. I’ll also be blitzing the state of South Dakota, meeting with staff of the Governor (perhaps even the Governor herself), state legislators as well as giving a few talks while I’m in town. The purpose of this trip will be to educate the state on the ethical and legal issues of surrogacy. Our film #BigFertility features Kelly Martinez, a 3-time gestational surrogate who lives in South Dakota. You can bet her story caught the attention of those in her state where surrogacy is permitted.

illustrated mother with baby

Now the big reveal! Our biggest project over the summer was working on our brand-new Podcast, Venus Rising. More and more people are turning to the podcast format to get their information and to learn. Venus Rising will focus on all things around fertility, infertility, and women’s reproductive health. We have pre-recorded quite a few interviews over the summer and are really excited to launch this on Friday, Sept. 13! Stay tuned so you can tune in and not miss an episode.

With summer being vacation mode for many, our financial support dramatically drops off over these months, but as you can see, our work keeps going. If you can send a gift of support, of any amount, we would be grateful. Our programs, travels, and just maintenance of a smooth operation takes money – you, our donors, make that possible. 

P.S. Contact us if you want details about sponsoring a Paul Ramsey Institute Fellow or if your business wants to be a sponsor of our new podcast, Venus Rising!

The Center for Bioethics and Culture is a non-profit 501(c)(3) public benefit educational organization. All gifts are tax-deductible.

Graphic by Vecteezy

Author Profile

Jennifer Lahl, CBC Founder
Jennifer Lahl, CBC Founder
Jennifer Lahl, MA, BSN, RN, is founder and president of The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network. Lahl couples her 25 years of experience as a pediatric critical care nurse, a hospital administrator, and a senior-level nursing manager with a deep passion to speak for those who have no voice. Lahl’s writings have appeared in various publications including Cambridge University Press, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Dallas Morning News, and the American Journal of Bioethics. As a field expert, she is routinely interviewed on radio and television including ABC, CBS, PBS, and NPR. She is also called upon to speak alongside lawmakers and members of the scientific community, even being invited to speak to members of the European Parliament in Brussels to address issues of egg trafficking; she has three times addressed the United Nations during the Commission on the Status of Women on egg and womb trafficking.