Alum advocates for reproductive justice and LGBTQ+ rights through law

School of Law graduate Rehan D. Chaudhuri is making waves in constitutional litigation, advocating for reproductive rights, gender equality, and LGBTQ+ justice.

For Rehan D. Chaudhuri (LLB, 2020), the law is more than a career – it’s a tool for justice. Since graduating, he has pursued a Bachelor of Civil Law at Oxford, immersed himself in a Spanish language program in Buenos Aires, and moved to New York to contribute to the reproductive rights movement.

Currently a Senior Paralegal at the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York, Rehan has been on the front lines of landmark abortion rights cases, including Zurawski v. Texas and Adkins v. Idaho. “I started my job just 18 days before the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade,” he says. “With my background in human rights and legal theory, I earned myself a place as the research and administrative assistant to the team that developed the Center’s litigation strategy to clarify and expand medical exceptions to total state abortion bans.”

His role includes complex legal and factual research, drafting parts of complaints and briefing, and assisting with trials and appellate hearings. In Zurawski v. Texas, he helped bring the voices of 20 women denied life-saving abortion care into the national spotlight. “The case forever changed people’s understanding of what it means to be an abortion seeker in America,” he explains. The case even caught the attention of Hillary Clinton, who produced a documentary about it.

Why Leeds?

Rehan chose to study law because of a personal experience at a young age. “At fifteen, I accompanied my neighbour to court hearings in her domestic violence case,” he recalls. “From this experience, I became interested in issues of gender-based violence and inequality, and the use of legal advocacy to counter these harms.”

Leeds stood out to him because of its strong course offerings in public law, international human rights law, and disability studies. Rehan knew that gaining early exposure to these subjects would help him develop his vision for how he would practice law as a human rights advocate.

Beyond academics, Rehan’s time at the School was shaped by inspiring professors, mentors and friends. “Dr Chloe Wallace’s early classes on the first principles of British constitutional government piqued my interest in the concept of democracy under rule of law, and they helped me realize the connection between the design of government and individuals’ ability to live free from violence and coercion in all spheres of life,” he says.

“Dr Joshua Warburton, Professor Ilias Trispiotis, and Professor Alastair Mullis played a huge role in building my self-confidence and shaping my career path,” Rehan adds. “Their encouragement and counsel helped me recognize my potential, and they ultimately steered me toward a career in constitutional civil rights litigation.”

Rehan also recognises the importance of his friendships during his time at Leeds. “The friends I made at Leeds are some of the smartest, most hardworking, and most supportive people I know. They made my time at Leeds such a joyful experience,” he recognises.

LGBTQ+ rights and reproductive justice: an intersection

As we mark LGBTQ+ History Month at the School of Law, Rehan underscores the deep connection between reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ rights.

“Reproductive coercion measures like abortion bans and laws targeting the LGBTQ+ community like sodomy laws are fundamentally rooted in a desire to penalize non-procreative bodily expression, to punish gender non-conformity, and to entrench gender-based hierarchies,” he explains.

In essence, I view the battle for reproductive liberty as essential to the dismantling of the power structures that aim to oppress, exclude, and erase my community.

As Rehan explains, the intersection between these issues has become particularly visible in the United States. “In the same opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, Justice Thomas (concurring) suggested that the Supreme Court’s constitutional opinions outlawing anti-sodomy laws and establishing gay marriage ought to be overturned since they rest on the same doctrine as the right to abortion,” he says. “Additionally, the politicians seeking to eradicate abortion access have been the same ones who are seeking to ban gender-affirming care and who have rolled back statutory civil rights protections for gay and trans employees.”

In his role at the Center for Reproductive Rights, Rehan combines his academic and personal interest to advance both issues. “I was especially keen to work at the Center because I wrote my undergraduate dissertation on statutes that strip judicial review, and the Center happened to be litigating a case concerning a Texas law that stripped federal judicial review of a six-week abortion ban a whole year before the right to abortion was overturned,” he says. “As a member of the LGBT+ community, I also wanted to find work that was consistent with my personal values.”

Highlights from a career in legal advocacy

One of Rehan’s proudest achievements is his work on Zurawski v. Texas. “I got to work directly with 20 brave survivors of violent human rights abuses,” he shares. “I conducted research, drafted parts of our complaint and appellate briefing, and led a project to locate 18th, 19th, and 20th century records of medically indicated abortion, essential to our constitutional claim for a right to life-preserving abortion.”

The case made history, sparking a national conversation on the real-life impact of abortion bans. “Although we eventually lost the appeal, the case was highly impactful,” he says. “Aside from shifting the popular narrative on what it means to be an abortion seeker in the United States, it gave our clients’ stories an indelible place in human rights history for future generations and the international community to judge.”

More recently, Rehan has implemented his background in international human rights law and legal theory to help craft the textual and natural rights basis for the constitutional claim in Adkins v. Idaho. The case argues that the Idaho Constitution’s explicit rights to enjoy and defend life, pursue happiness, and secure safety protect a right to medically indicated abortion. His research and arguments are set to be used in post-trial briefing this month.

Beyond abortion rights, Rehan is also lead paralegal on maternal health and midwifery litigation. He currently works on the team in Kaho’ohanohano v. Hawai’i, a case seeking to protect Native Hawaiian and cultural birthing practices under state constitutional law.

Rehan also recently applied to Juris Doctor programs in the US and hopes to eventually practice as a constitutional litigator focused on reproductive justice and democratic accountability.

How Leeds prepared Rehan for the legal world

My greatest contributions to the reproductive rights movement, thus far, have been through research, and that would not have been possible without Leeds’ consistent emphasis on research-based learning.

Another key takeaway was learning to integrate international human rights law into constitutional arguments. “An overarching goal of the reproductive rights movement is to bring American jurisprudence on the issue in closer alignment with human rights principles,” he explains. “My training in international human rights law has helped me creatively contribute ideas and research that subtly infuse human rights theory into our constitutional claims.”

Advice for future lawyers: "use the law with empathy"

When asked for advice to those who are at the early stages of their academic journey, Rehan says: “Pursue the career path that brings you the most joy. Doing work that you are passionate about and that intellectually challenges you is what makes your chosen profession a calling.”

“And remember to use the law with empathy. Law is an immensely powerful profession, and it is the apathetic exercise of power that ultimately causes inequality, social exclusion, and violence. Even if commercial law is your calling, find the time to contribute to the upkeep of your community, society, and democracy in any way that you can.”

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