It’s Time to Go Beyond Pro-choice: Reproductive Justice
By: Sam Low
Our conversations regarding reproductive rights in the United States tend to be confined to the abortion debate especially due to recent attacks on women’s bodily autonomy through restricting abortion access. The right to choose to not have children is an essential human right and appropriately focused on in mainstream discourse, but reproductive justice activists fight for much more than pro-choice positions, advocating for the freedom of all women to make healthy decisions concerning their sexuality, reproduction, and family-making, free from barriers and violence. Maternal health experts, Dr. Monica McLemore and Cr. Karen Scott go into more detail about the specific tenets of reproductive justice.
“At the heart of reproductive justice is this claim: all fertile persons and persons who reproduce and become parents require a safe and dignified context for these most fundamental human experiences.” -Loretta J. Ross and Rickie Solinger A Reproductive Justice History
Historically, the women’s movement in the United States has been extremely exclusive, centering cisgender straight white women and shutting out women who did not fit those narrow parameters. This exclusion weakened the women’s movement overall but fostered a movement that addressed the needs not being attended to in the mainstream reproductive rights movement.
The term “reproductive justice” was created in 1994 by a social movement group called the Women of African Descent for Reproductive Justice (WADRJ). They knew that the ability to have children is deeply intertwined with one’s freedom as an individual. They also saw the blaring absence of Black women in the mainstream reproductive rights movement and consequently the absence of issues disproportionately effecting Black women. To these women, reproductive rights needed to be all-encompassing and consider the rights of mothers.
In addition to reframing the reproductive rights conversation in the United States, WADRJs work included spreading awareness about reproductive justice, through publishing advertisements in newspapers and staying in communication with elected officials.
Today, WADRJs message of comprehensive reproductive justice continues through subsequent social movement organizations (SMOs). SisterSong is a well-known active southern based collective focusing on women of color and reproductive justice. Learning from the lessons of previous social movements, they aim to center intersecting identities, and spread information on reproductive justice, interact with elected officials, mobilize protests, and give community and support to women of color.
After learning about reproductive justice, I’m sure you’re wondering how you can get involved in the conversation. First of all, it’s important to educate and spread the work of WADRJ in discourse surrounding reproductive rights. Experiences of reproduction, family-making, and motherhood are all highly impacted by varying forms of inequality and privilege, thus looking at these issues through a reproductive justice lens is essential. There are plenty of involvement opportunities revolving around reproductive justice in Virginia, including donating time or resources to local SMOs. Below are some great organizations to take a look at!
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