Reproductive Justice
It's Not A Choice
Why Are We Still Talking About Choice?
I did not personally encounter the term reproductive justice until my senior year of undergrad. According to national data provided by the Lumina Foundation, approximately 45.3% of Americans will go to college (Stronger Nation). What I take from that data is that approximately 54.7% of Americans will not be exposed to the term reproductive justice, let alone be able to understand how it impacts them, their families and their communities.
The purpose of this syllabus is to discuss the use of the choice paradigm vs a reproductive justice model. It is not to debate whether or not abortion should be legal. To be clear, the first part of the syllabus will be centered on pro-life vs pro-choice rhetoric but the matter at question is not whether a fetus is a person or if abortion is morally right. The discussion will be focused on why the idea of ‘choice’ leaves so much to be desired.
Reproductive justice is at the same time pro-life and pro-choice. It takes into account the life of the mother, the life of the family, and the life of the community. “Reproductive justice, as defined by ACRJ, will be achieved when women and girls have the economic, social and political power and resources to make healthy decisions about our bodies, sexuality and reproduction for ourselves, our families and our communities in all areas of our lives,” (ACRJ 4).
When I do a Google search of the term reproductive justice the search engine brings back "about 931,000" hits, which is a great deal more than 76,000 produced in 2006 (Ross). Clearly, reproductive justice is being talked about. And yet, as evidenced by the rhetoric of the recent election, we're still talking about choice in the present discussion regarding women's reproductive freedom. Women's reproductive freedom is not about choice.
It's about justice.
Goals for this Course
The Rhetoric of Choice
What I want you to take away from this section is the ability to analyze the language that is used when discussing reproductive freedom. That analysis is essential to understanding the limitations of the Choice framework.
The Limitations of Choice
This section is designed for you to see multiple areas that affect a woman's reproductive decisions that are not taken into account in the Choice framework. Gaining understanding of what the Choice framework does not account for allows for greater comprehension of why the Reproductive Justice Framework is necessary.
The Reproductive Justice Framework
In order to move to a Reproductive Justice model it is essential to understand what activists mean by the term reproductive justice. This section contains multiple understandings of reproductive justice to help you get a greater understanding of the term and why the framework is necessary.
From Choice to Justice
My overall goal for this course is to get all people working toward reproductive freedom together and to create a greater understanding for a framework that could get us there. What I think is most beautiful about the Reproductive Justice framework is its ability to account for everyone's needs. Whereas, Pro-Life v Pro-Choice divides people into one camp or the other, Reproductive Justice allows for both.
How to Use this Syllabus
Go through the sections in the order provided. Each section has two reading sections: a main article and additional readings. The main article is meant to inform your readings of the additional readings. As such, read that article first and then the other articles in whichever order speaks to you.
The Rhetoric of Choice
Pro-Choice is a rhetorical tool that implies that a woman’s sense of agency is being infringed upon when she is not allowed to make her own reproductive decisions. In America where “freedom and justice for all” is part of the pledge that we memorize as we enter school, the belief that we have agency, “the capacity, condition, or state of acting or of exerting power”, is deeply ingrained (Merriam-Webster). It was this core fundamental right that the pro-choice movement tapped into through their label. At the time it was an effective tool for getting people to focus more on women’s bodies being invaded by government and to distract from what the women were “choosing” to do to their bodies.
But choice gets complicated. In 2014, approximately 46.7 million people in America lived below the poverty line (Zile). When a woman gets to "choose" whether to bring a child into a home that can’t afford the basic necessities, the rhetoric of choice does not carry the same weight. In the words of Dr. Susan Robinson, one of the doctors involved in the documentary After Tiller, “you have choices. They all suck."
Main Article:
Karen Weingarten, "Impossible Decisions: Abortion, Reproductive Technologies, and the Rhetoric of Choice," Women's Studies 41.3 (2012): 263, 263-281.
Additional Readings:
Arit John, "Wendy Davis, Like A Lot Of People Is Pro-Choice And Pro-Life," The Atlantic, 7 November 2013.
Emma Green, "Why Are Fewer American Women Getting Abortions?" The Atlantic, 17 June 2015.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/american-abortion-rate-decline/395960/
Maya Dusenbery, "Quote of the Day: Bill Nye Schools Anti-Choicers on Science," Feministing, 2015.
http://feministing.com/2015/09/28/quote-of-the-day-bill-nye-schools-anti-choicers-on-science/
Jackie Calmes, "Advocate Shun 'Pro-Choice' To Expand Message," The New York Times, 28 July 2014.
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/us/politics/advocates-shun-pro-choice-to-expand-message.html?_r=1
The Limitations of Choice
For too long, the rhetoric of “choice” has privileged predominantly
white middle-class women who have the ability to choose from reproductive options that are unavailable to poor and low-income women, especially women of color. The mainstream movement for reproductive rights has narrowed its concerns to advocate almost exclusively for the legal right to abortion, further distancing its agenda from the interests of women who have been targets of sterilization abuse because of the devaluation of their right to bear children.
~ Dorothy Roberts
Main Article:
Dorothy Roberts, "Reproductive Justice, Not Just Rights," Dissent, Fall 2015.
https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/reproductive-justice-not-just-rights
Additional Readings:
Lisa Ko, "Unwanted Sterilization and Eugenics Programs in the United States," PBS, 29 January 2016.
Incite, "Dangerous Contraceptions," Incite-National, 2014.
http://www.incite-national.org/page/dangerous-contraceptions
Rachael Lorenzo, "At Standing Rock, Environmental Justice is Reproductive Justice," Rewire, 20 September 2016.
https://rewire.news/article/2016/09/20/standing-rock-environmental-justice-reproductive-justice/
Maya Dusenbery, "On The New Documentary After Tiller and How Anti-Choicers Ingore the Complexities of Life," Feministing, 2013.
The Reproductive Justice Framework
Main Article:
Miriam Pérez, "The Meaning of Reproductive Justice; Simplifying a Complex Concept," Rewire, 8 February 2013.
https://rewire.news/article/2013/02/08/communicating-complexity-reproductive-justice/
Additional Readings:
Loretta Ross, "Understanding Reproductive Justice," Trust Black Women, March 2011.
http://www.trustblackwomen.org/our-work/what-is-reproductive-justice/9-what-is-reproductive-justice
"Reproductive Justice," Sistersong: Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, accessed 9 December 2016.
http://sistersong.net/reproductive-justice/
Monica Raye Simpson, "Reproductive Justice Matters," Huffington Post, 1 February 2015.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/monica-raye-simpson/reproductive-justice-matters_b_6582766.html
Rebecca Traister, "Don't Let Republicans Erase Vaginas From Women's Health," New Republic, 31 July 2014.
https://newrepublic.com/article/118911/reproductive-justice-movement-replacing-word-choice
From Choice to Justice
Monica Raye Simpson, “Speaking Out for Reproductive Freedom," Filmed [April 2016]. YouTube video, 08:20. Posted [June 2016]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k98UQYlbAnY
Main Article:
Andrea Smith, "Beyond Pro-Choice Versus Pro-Life: Women of Color and Reproductive Justice," NWSA Journal 17.1 (2005): 119-140.
Additional Readings:
Jill Morrison, "From 'Choice' to 'Reproductive Justice: The Sistersong Experience," National Women's Law Center, 6 June 2007.
Molly M. Ginty, "Activists Connect Choice to Reproductive Justice," Women's eNews, 11 March 2013.
http://womensenews.org/2013/03/activists-connect-choice-reproductive-justice/
Eveline Shen, "Reproductive Justice: How Pro-Choice Activists Can Work To Build A Comprehensive Movement," Mother Jones, 24 January 2006.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2006/01/reproductive-justice
Carol Mason, "How Not to Pimp Out Reproductive Justice: Adventures in Education, Activism, and Accountability," Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 34.3 (2013): 226,226-241.