Why Reproductive Justice Matters to Reproductive Ethics

2021 ◽  
pp. 17-28
Author(s):  
Melissa Gilliam ◽  
Dorothy Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Women Of Color ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ethical Principle ◽  
Indigenous Women ◽  
Safe Motherhood ◽  
Reproductive Justice ◽  
Reproductive Ethics ◽  
Long Acting ◽  
Disproportionate Burden

This chapter addresses the historical and current attempts by physicians and legislators to regulate the reproduction of Black, Latina, and Indigenous women, with a particular focus on Black women. It connects the contemporary language promoting long-acting reversible contraception for “risky” populations to past policies coercing Black, Latina, and Indigenous women to use contraception and undergo sterilization. At the same time, these efforts to regulate the reproduction of women of color coincide with a rising number of abortion restrictions and lack of access to abortion and safe motherhood, which affect women of color disproportionately. Black women bear a disproportionate burden of the staggering and rising maternal mortality rate in the United States. These topics are often omitted from discussions about reproductive ethics, and social justice is often neglected as a major ethical principle. Approaching the reproductive freedom of women of color from a reproductive justice perspective, therefore, offers an important way to expand our understanding of reproductive ethics.

What Is Reproductive Justice?

Meridians ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (S1) ◽  
pp. 340-362
Author(s):  
Kimala Price
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Women Of Color ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Reproductive Rights ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Reproductive Justice ◽  
Political Movement ◽  
Marginalized Groups ◽  
New Framework

Abstract Frustrated by the individualist approach of the “choice” paradigm used by the mainstream reproductive rights movement in the United States, a growing coalition of women of color organizations and their allies have sought to redefine and broaden the scope of reproductive rights by using a human rights framework. Dubbing itself “the movement for reproductive justice,” this coalition connects reproductive rights to other social justice issues such as economic justice, education, immigrant rights, environmental justice, sexual rights, and globalization, and believes that this new framework will encourage more women of color and other marginalized groups to become more involved in the political movement for reproductive freedom. Using narrative analysis, this essay explores what reproductive justice means to this movement, while placing it within the political, social, and cultural context from which it emerged.

Soft Sterilization: Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives in the Carceral State

Affilia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 218-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Della J. Winters ◽  
Adria Ryan McLaughlin
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
State Agencies ◽  
Reproductive Justice ◽  
Reproductive Autonomy ◽  
Carceral State ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Reproductive Control ◽  
Laws And Policies ◽  
Long Acting ◽  
Long Acting Reversible Contraceptives

In the United States, between 1907 and 1978, the proliferation of eugenic state practices routinely targeted institutionalized women with legalized involuntary sterilization. Sterilization laws and policies were a form of reproductive control, which predominantly impacted women from marginalized communities. After the implementation of federal regulations prohibiting involuntary sterilization practices, state agencies continued to engage in coercive sterilization under the guise of “voluntariness.” Using a reproductive justice framework, we introduce a concept of reproductive control embedded within the carceral state. Tracing historical sterilization practices and examining the use of long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC), we argue that LARC represents a different form of involuntary sterilization. The emergence of LARC as a highly effective, nonagentive, and mediated form of contraception for vulnerable populations demands interrogation. We identify the use of LARC as soft sterilization, which is both related to and distinct from other forms of reproductive control. As such, reproductive autonomy is not possible without the destruction of the carceral state.

Making Democracy Real

Meridians ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-151
Author(s):  
Joyce C. Follet
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Birth Control ◽  
Women Of Color ◽  
Women's Leadership ◽  
Reproductive Justice ◽  
Deep Roots ◽  
Human Rights Movement ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Access To Contraception ◽  
Gain Access

AbstractThis essay offers a historical overview of African American women’s efforts to gain access to contraception, from the early stirrings of the campaign to legalize birth control in the 1910s to the eve of mass movements for racial equality and women’s rights in the 1960s. The birth control struggle becomes a window on the racial, gender, and economic structures black women negotiated in pursuit of sexual and reproductive self-determination at that time. Taking us back a century, and with emphasis on resilience and resistance, their story reminds us of the deep roots and broad vision of black women’s leadership in what has become a women-of-color–led human rights movement for reproductive justice today.

scholarly journals What To Expect When You’re No Longer Expecting: How States Use Concealment and Abuse of a Corpse Statutes Against Women

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-205
Author(s):  
Nisha Chandra
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Pregnancy Outcomes ◽  
Women Of Color ◽  
Pregnancy Loss ◽  
The United States ◽  
Medical Services ◽  
Reproductive Justice ◽  
Chilling Effect ◽  
Poor Women ◽  
Fetal Personhood

Since the 1690s, women in the United States have been arrested and punished for experiencing miscarriages and stillbirths—pregnancy outcomes that are completely normal. This practice continues to the modern day, where prosecutors charge women with concealing a birth, concealing a death, or abuse of a corpse for the actions they take after experiencing pregnancy loss. This Note argues that these statutes were originally enacted to punish women who had sex outside of marriage and are now being used to control women, mostly women of color and poor women, for not adhering to society’s idealized vision of femininity and motherhood. The use of these statutes advances notions of fetal personhood and will ultimately have a chilling effect on the availability of abortion through telemedicine. The Note suggests that while repealing these laws would help, the best solution is to approach the issue through a reproductive justice lens—namely, increasing the availability of education and medical services for women.

Destined to Run?

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-52
Author(s):  
Jamil Scott ◽  
Nadia Brown ◽  
Lorrie Frasure ◽  
Dianne Pinderhughes
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Women Of Color ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
Political Ambition ◽  
Candidate Emergence ◽  
Political Office ◽  
Using Data

While the candidate emergence literature has provided explanations as to why women do not run or think about running for office, we are still learning about the reasons why they do. This question is of interest for the political candidacy of Black women, as this group is most represented among women of color in political office and their numbers continue to grow. Furthermore, because there is evidence that Black women’s entry into politics is distinct from other groups, it is important to explore how Black women come to participate in politics. The authors examine the extent to which Black women’s level of civic engagement influences their likelihood of considering political office compared to other groups of women. They theorize that running for office is a form of political participation and that previous political activity can act as a predictor for political ambition. The authors explore the likelihood that civic engagement matters for Black women being asked to run and considering running for office on their own. Using data from the 2016 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey (CMPS), a unique dataset that provides a large and generalizable sample of racial and ethnic groups in the United States, the authors examine political ambition beyond the groups that have traditionally run for political office. In sum, our data indicates that political participation significantly predicts being asked to run and thinking about running for office. These results reveal the importance of thinking beyond the traditional candidacy pool and how sociopolitical factors matter for key determinants of seeking political office (being asked and having considered running).

Exploring Black Women’s Pathways to Motherhood Within a Reproductive Justice Framework

2022 ◽  
pp. 104973232110668
Author(s):  
Seanna Leath ◽  
Patrice Wright ◽  
Bianka Charity-Parker ◽  
Erica Stephens
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Family Planning ◽  
The United States ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Reproductive Decisions ◽  
Reproductive Justice ◽  
Consensual Qualitative Research ◽  
Black Mothers ◽  
Empirical Knowledge ◽  
Health Practitioners

Amidst the increasing push to address racial disparities in maternal health equity, fewer studies have considered Black women’s perspectives on their needs, concerns, and priorities regarding family planning care. Such evidence might help address the lack of support and information that many Black women report in patient–provider encounters, and broaden empirical knowledge on the contextual factors that influence Black women’s reproductive decisions. In the present qualitative study, we explored Black women’s pathways to motherhood within a reproductive justice framework. We drew on individual, semi-structured interview data from 31 Black mothers (25–50 years, Mage = 35 years) across the United States. Using consensual qualitative research methods, we elaborated on three themes: (1) intentional family planning, (2) unintended pregnancy, and (3) othermothering. The findings challenge deficit-based stereotypes of Black mothers’ reproductive choices and illuminate how health practitioners can facilitate humanizing conversations that prioritize Black women’s family planning goals and decision-making.

Race, Gender, and Political Representation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth Reingold ◽  
Kerry L. Haynie ◽  
Kirsten Widner
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Women Of Color ◽  
White Women ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Original Data ◽  
The United States ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Gender Similarities ◽  
Politics Of Race

Who gets elected? Who do they represent? What issues do they prioritize? Does diversity in representation make a difference? Race, Gender, and Political Representation approaches these questions about the politics of identity in the United States differently. It is not about women’s representation or minority representation; it is about how race and gender interact to affect the election, behavior, and impact of all individuals—raced women and gendered minorities alike. By putting women of color at the center of the analysis and re-evaluating traditional, one-at-a-time approaches to studying the politics of race or gender, the authors demonstrate what an intersectional approach to political representation can reveal. With a wealth of original data on the presence, policy leadership, and policy impact of Black women and men, Latinas and Latinos, and White women and men in state legislative office in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, each chapter shows how the politics of race, gender, and representation are far more complex than recurring “Year of the Woman” frameworks suggest. An array of race-gender similarities and differences is evident in the experiences, activities, and accomplishments of these state legislators. Yet one thing is clear: the representation of those marginalized by multiple, intersecting systems of power and inequality is intricately bound to the representation of women of color.

Inventing the Woman Voter: Suffrage, Ability, and Patents

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 559-574
Author(s):  
Kara W. Swanson
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Women Of Color ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
New York State ◽  
The United States ◽  
York State ◽  
Feminist History ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common

AbstractIn 1870, the New York State Suffrage Association published a pamphlet titled “Woman as Inventor.” White suffragists distributed this history of female invention to prove women's inventiveness, countering arguments that biological disabilities justified women's legal disabilities. In the United States, inventiveness was linked to the capacity for original thought considered crucial for voters, making female inventiveness relevant to the franchise. As women could and did receive patents, activists used them as government certification of female ability. By publicizing female inventors, counting patents granted to women, and displaying women's inventions, they sought to overturn the common wisdom that women could not invent and prove that they had the ability to vote. Although partially successful, these efforts left undisturbed the equally common assertion that African Americans could not invent. White suffragists kept the contemporary Black woman inventor invisible, relegating the technological creations of women of color to a primitive past. White suffragists created a feminist history of invention, in words and objects, that reinforced white supremacy—another erasure of Black women, whose activism white suffragists were eager to harness, yet whose public presence they sought to minimize in order to keep the woman voter, like the woman inventor, presumptively white.

LEADERSHIP SUCCESSION IN INTERSECTIONAL MOBILIZATION: AN ANALYSIS OF THE CHICAGO ABORTION FUND, 1985–2015*

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 461-474
Author(s):  
Meghan Daniel ◽  
Cedric de Leon
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Women Of Color ◽  
Reproductive Justice ◽  
Service Agency ◽  
Leadership Succession ◽  
Social Service Agency ◽  
Movement Organization ◽  
Formal Leadership ◽  
Depth Interviews

While intersectionality is increasingly an object of inquiry in social movement research, few scholars examine leadership’s role in enabling intersectional mobilization. This article draws on data from archives and in-depth interviews (n = 18) to explore the importance of leadership succession in transforming the Chicago Abortion Fund between 1985–2015. Specifically, it explores two types of succession: (1) from grassroots or community-embedded leadership to bridge leadership (which connects the community to the organization), and (2) from bridge to formal leadership. Our study shows how these two types of succession were instrumental in operationalizing margins-to-center organizing. We present our findings in a series of conjunctures or episodes to elucidate how Black women and women of color moved gradually through different forms of leadership. In so doing, they changed the framing and praxis of the organization from a social service agency to a radical reproductive-justice social movement organization.

“I'm Just Like, You Know What, It’s Now or Never”: Exploring How Women of Color Experiencing Severe Abuse and Homicide Risk Journey Toward Formal Help-Seeking

2021 ◽  
pp. 088626052110051
Author(s):  
Shannon B. Harper
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Women Of Color ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
Physical Violence ◽  
The United States ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
Structural Barriers ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Risk Of Death ◽  
Breaking Points

Women in the United States are more likely to be killed by an intimate partner than anyone else, and prior, severe domestic violence (DV) is typically involved in such intimate partner homicides (IPH). Black women experience disproportionately high rates of DV and IPHs, severe injury, and abuse with weapons. Distinct patterns of escalating DV are associated with impending risk of re-victimization and lethal violence. One of the most common predictors associated with formal DV help-seeking is severity of physical violence. The current study uses semi-structured interviews with 11 severe abuse survivors to answer the following research questions: (1) How do women experiencing severe abuse make sense of DV resources across the course of their abusive relationships? (2) How do women experiencing severe abuse make sense of services when fear of death/homicide risk is present? Approximately 91% of the sample is comprised of women of color (WOC) survivors. Results demonstrate that WOC survivors navigated complex journeys toward formal DV help-seeking that involved resisting help-seeking when the abuse still felt manageable; delaying help-seeking to protect themselves from escalating violence; and hastening help-seeking when breaking points were reached and the risk of death felt tangible. DV resources took on a different meaning in participants’ lives as abuse became more severe across the abuse lifecourse, and in relation to life circumstances and patterns of abuse, and personal perceptions of homicide risk. WOC participants also often experienced multiple structural barriers to formal help-seeking and waited until the violence was severe and/or life-threatening to make first contact, which highlights the necessity of immediate risk assessment with responsive service offerings that address the link between DV and poverty, as well as regular follow-up and ongoing support.

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