Centering abortion advocacy through reproductive justice
When thinking about sexual and reproductive health and rights, the conversation tends to lean towards being pro-choice. The pro-choice movement is an essential step towards bodily autonomy, as it allows us to define and choose what option is best for us when it comes to reproduction. However, abortion access isn’t always attainable for everyone, in fact, many women around the world have been stripped from their right to choose.
This is where reproductive justice comes in, bringing important topics to the conversation on the need to amplify what quality SRHR looks like.
What is reproductive justice?
The organization SisterSong defines Reproductive Justice as the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities. Their vision for reproductive justice comes from a holistic approach, understanding that support and sustainability are important to ensure that the changes created to obtain bodily autonomy are made systemically, not just personally.
The reproductive justice movement is built upon 3 core principles:
The right to have a child under the conditions of one’s own choosing (including type of obstetric care).
The right not to have a child and to secure access to safe birth control and abortion.
The right to parent children in an environment of one’s own choosing.
Reproductive justice is interwoven with basic human rights, magnifying the importance of access. It’s not enough to understand what we want as individuals, we need a societal shift that allows people to obtain quality resources to safely manage their pregnancy or abortion, as well as granting adequate conditions for the parents and children to live safely and healthily.
Though the reproductive rights movement has advocated for the right to choice, it tends to do so from an individualistic approach, instead of prioritizing the power that a community can bring into the conversation. It can also unfortunately continue to marginalize those who need even more support to access their reproductive rights.
Abortion advocacy from an intersectional lens
When discussing reproductive justice, it’s imperative that we highlight the work that women of color have done to create this framework. In 1994, a group of black women gathered in Chicago, where they recognized that the women’s rights movement, mainly led by wealthy white women, could not defend the needs of women of color and other marginalized women and pregnant people.
The term Reproductive Justice was coined during the International Conference on Population & Development in Cairo in 1994. This framework sought to uplift the needs of the most marginalized women, families, and communities, allowing people to control their reproductive journey.
When reviewing abortion access, historically those who are white and come from a middle or upper class have better access to abortion services, or the means to travel to locations that will permit them to have a safe abortion, leaving women of color, women from the disability community, indigenous women, refugees, and women and pregnant people from the LGBTQAI+ community facing different barriers that limit their access to safe abortion services.
Barriers to obtaining reproductive justice
There are intersecting systems of oppression that restrict women and pregnant people from being able to fully obtain reproductive justice. Young people, black women, latinas and members from the LGBTQIA+ community are affected disproportionately by attacks on access to birth control. These attacks will significantly increase the number of unwanted pregnancies, making it even more difficult to obtain reproductive justice for those who wish to terminate their pregnancies but live in areas with restrictive abortion laws.
Women who are displaced because of war and ecological disasters are also part of the communities that face barriers to obtaining reproductive justice. According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, in the initial stages of an emergency refugee situation, the breakdown of traditional structures of community and family results in limited protection from sexual and gender violence, thus women refugees experience higher rates of gender violence, sexual exploitation, and maternal mortality than women in the general population.
Those from global majority countries face similar barriers, as many countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America either ban abortion outright or allow it only in cases where the mother's life is at risk. Stigma, cultural and religious beliefs make it hard for women to access resources that allow them to actively manage their reproductive journey.
A better future for reproductive rights
The reproductive justice movement has allowed us to reimagine reproductive rights through a new lens that prioritizes the right to maintain bodily autonomy, whether that means choosing to become mothers or to have a safe abortion, while emphasizing the need for systemic changes that support families and communities to manage their reproductive health with the care and resources needed.
Without a comprehensive analysis of what reproductive health should be, many women and pregnant people are excluded from the conversation of what abortion advocacy is trying to achieve. When we center the voices of those who are often marginalized, we realize that the issue goes beyond individual choices, it redefines a movement that allows all of our needs, hopes and dreams to be reached, while challenging a patriarchal system that has continued to silence the voices of those who need to be heard the most.
References:
Center for Reproductive Rights. (2001). Displaced and Disregarded: Refugees and their Reproductive Rights. Center for Reproductive Rights. https://www.reproductiverights.org/sites/default/files/documents/pub_bp_displaced_refugees.pdf
Kyere, A. (2021). An introduction to reproductive justice. Gunda-Werner-Institut: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung. https://www.gwi-boell.de/en/2021/03/15/an-introduction-to-reproductive-justice
Planned Parenthood. (n.d.). Who’s Most Impacted by Attacks on Birth Control. Planned Parenthood. https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/fight-for-birth-control/facts/whos-most-impacted-by-attacks-on-birth-control
SisterSong. (n.d.). Reproductive justice. https://www.sistersong.net/reproductive-justice
Thapar, M. (2024). Global divide: Abortion rights in the global south vs. global north. Global Rights Defenders. https://www.globalrightsdefenders.org/post/global-divide-abortion-rights-in-the-global-south-vs-global-north
About the author:
Vianey Estrada is a feminist and women's rights advocate from Mexico. She is a Communications Officer for safe2choose & Communications Officer at GEC. Currently she's pursuing a master's degree in gender studies, arts, and humanities. She is passionate about using her knowledge to contribute to the feminist movement and the advancement of women's rights. She has taken courses in inclusive communication, gender and human rights, safe abortion, and feminist theory.
