Dorothy Roberts on reproductive justice: ‘Abortion isn’t the only focus’

The scholar discusses why the movement needs to bring reproductive justice out of the margins and into the center

Marian Jones
Sun 28 Aug 2022

For many women of color, the right to control one’s reproductive destiny has always been about much more than the right to abortion.

With the recent loss of the constitutional right to abortion in the US, some reproductive rights advocates are calling for a renewed focus on reproductive justice, a concept developed in the early 1990s by women of color. Reproductive justice stresses not just the right to abortion, but also economic, racial and environmental justice, along with other facets of social equality, as critical to true reproductive freedom.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/28/reproductive-freedom-abortion-rights-dorothy-roberts-interview

28.08.2022

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Killing the Black Body

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SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective

USA – The Right to Reproductive Autonomy: A 14th Amendment Guarantee

5/24/2022
by DIANA KASDAN and RISA KAUFMAN

Despite the Supreme Court’s expected ruling, a correct understanding of the Constitution guarantees the legal right to reproductive autonomy: reclaiming the full promise of the 14th Amendment.

The Supreme Court will soon issue its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. A decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which the leaked opinion indicates a majority of the Court is prepared to do, would be egregiously wrong and have devastating impact nationwide. But whether the Court explicitly dismantles Roe or stops short of rejecting constitutional protection for abortion, we must continue fighting to secure the full promise of the 14th Amendment. Under a correct understanding of its multiple and interdependent guarantees, a future with stronger constitutional protection for reproductive autonomy is both necessary and possible.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2022/05/24/right-to-abortion-constitution-14th-amendment-freedom/

USA – It seems like a scary time for reproductive rights. Here are reasons to have more hope.

Power over bodies has a long history that is inclusive of racism, classism and ableism. We need to change the way we talk about abortion rights.

May 21, 2022
By Dr. Esther Choo, MSNBC Opinion Columnist

As someone born just four months before the Roe v. Wade decision, I’m sometimes tormented by the idea that we’ve made absolutely no progress in reproductive health over the course of my life. Just this week, Oklahoma passed a bill that will ban abortion from the moment of “fertilization.” Ahead of Georgia’s GOP Senate primary on Tuesday, front-runner Herschel Walker has made it clear there should be “no exception” to abortion bans in his state. News of criminalizing medically necessary abortions and even miscarriages of unknown cause makes this a bleak and frightening time.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/abortion-rights-are-line-all-not-lost-n1295576

21.05.2022

National Birth Equity Collaborative

How Black Feminists Defined Abortion Rights

As liberation movements bloomed, they offered a vision of reproductive justice that was about equality, not just “choice.”

By Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
February 22, 2022

It will probably be months before the Supreme Court decides, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, whether to overturn Roe v. Wade. But, in this latest round of attacks on Roe, a novel line of argument has emerged: that forced pregnancy and parenthood no longer constitute a hardship for women. Lawyers representing Mississippi, the appellant in the lawsuit, describe a world that has fundamentally changed over the past fifty years, in which the burdens of parenting have been lifted and women have been empowered to have it all—to assume a career while still raising families. As for those women who would prefer not to parent, they now have the option to simply terminate their parental rights.

Continued: https://www.newyorker.com/news/essay/how-black-feminists-defined-abortion-rights

22.02.2022

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National Organization for Women

USA – Abortion and the 13th Amendment

BY ANDREW KOPPELMAN, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR
01/30/22

In the debate over whether Roe v. Wade should be overturned, a major constitutional issue has been neglected.

Imagine a world in which women are forced to bear children. They do not control their reproductive powers. Their bodies are at the command of others. Their bodies are mere instruments. Their lives are seized and put to the service of purposes not their own.

Continued: https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/591973-abortion-and-the-13th-amendment?rl=1

USA – Fighting for Abortion Access in the South

Fighting for Abortion Access in the South
A fund in Georgia is responding to restrictive legislation with a familial kind of care.

By Alexis Okeowo
Oct 14th issue, the New Yorker

In June, 1994, at a pro-choice conference in Chicago, twelve black women gathered together to talk. One, Loretta Ross, was the executive director of the first rape crisis center in this country. Another, Toni Bond, was the executive director of the Chicago Abortion Fund. A third, Cynthia Newbille, was the leader of the National Black Women’s Health Project, which was among the first national organizations to be devoted to the wellness of black women and girls. After the first day of the event, which was hosted by the Illinois Pro-Choice Alliance and the Ms. Foundation, the group met in a hotel room. “We did what black women do when we’re in spaces where there are just a handful of us,” Bond, who is now a religious scholar, recalled. “We pulled the sistas together and talked about what was missing.”

Continued: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/10/14/fighting-for-abortion-access-in-the-south

14.10.2019