on reproductive justice
The National Harm Reduction Coalition recognizes the Reproductive Justice movement as foundationally important to the Harm Reduction movement. What parallels to harm reduction concepts do you take away from the video above?
Here is an excerpt from an in-depth article on the concept of Reproductive Justice, written by Loretta Ross in 2017 (free download available here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322536609_Reproductive_Justice_as_Intersectional_Feminist_Activism
What is Reproductive Justice?
In June 1994, twelve black women working in the reproductive health and rights movement birthed the concept of reproductive justice at a pro-choice conference on health care reform in Chicago. We created “reproductive justice” because we believed that true health care for women needed to include a full range of reproductive health services. While abortion is one primary health issue, we knew that abortion advocacy alone inadequately addressed the intersectional oppressions of white supremacy, misogyny, and neoliberalism. From the perspective of African American women, any health care plan must include coverage for abortions, contraceptives, well-woman preventive care, pre- and postnatal care, fibroids, infertility, cervical and breast cancer, infant and maternal morbidity and mortality, intimate partner violence, HIV/AIDS, and other sexually transmitted infections. In simplest terms, we spliced together the concept of reproductive rights and social justice to coin the neologism, “reproductive justice.”
“The 12 women and their affiliations at the time who became the founding mothers of the concept of reproductive justice were:
Toni M. Bond Chicago Abortion Fund
Reverend Alma Crawford Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
Evelyn S. Field National Council of Negro Women
Terri James American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois
Bisola Maringay National Black Women’s Health Project, Chicago Chapter
Cassandra McConnell Planned Parenthood of Greater Cleveland
Cynthia Newbille National Black Women’s Health Project (now Black Women’s Health Imperative)
Loretta J. Ross Center for Democratic Renewal
Elizabeth Terry National Abortion Rights Action League of Pennsylvania
“Able” Mabel Thomas Pro-Choice Resource Center, Inc.
Winnette P. Willis Chicago Abortion Fund
Kim Youngblood National Black Women’s Health Project"
SisterSong is a Reproductive Justice advocacy organization that is fighting for the legal right to bodily autonomy. More information on their advocacy and legal work available on their website (linked above), and on the ACLU website:
SisterSong v. State of Georgia | American Civil Liberties Union
WHAT’S AT STAKE
“Georgia physicians, reproductive health care providers, and advocates filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of Fulton County on June 26, 2022 bringing a state constitutional challenge against H.B. 481, a law banning abortion at approximately six weeks of pregnancy — just two weeks after a person’s first missed period and before many people even know they are pregnant. This lawsuit comes one week after a federal appeals court allowed Georgia’s six-week ban to take effect for the first time since it was passed in 2019, causing an immediate, devastating crisis as clinics were forced to turn away patients in waiting rooms across the state and to cancel many upcoming appointments.”
