I'm writing this post on the
heels of a very inspiring Roe v. Wade anniversary celebration at Hampshire
College. We had the privilege of hearing from the incredible Loretta Ross, one
of the founders of the Reproductive Justice movement. Many of us came away with
a much better understanding of what Reproductive Justice means, and how the
movement connects to Tapestry’s work in reproductive health.
Ms. Ross
has written: “The Reproductive Justice framework analyzes how the ability of
any woman to determine her own reproductive destiny is linked directly to the
conditions in her community… Moving beyond a demand for privacy and respect for
individual decision making to include the social supports necessary for our
individual decisions to be optimally realized, this framework also includes
obligations from our government for protecting women’s human rights.”
Looking at a woman’s right to choose through the
lens of human rights broadens our perspective. How do we protect the right not
to have a child, and also the right to have a child, and the right to parent
the children we have in a safe, healthy environment?
Tapestry Health’s work, with
its focus eliminating health care disparities, provides the nuts and bolts of
Reproductive Justice by making sexual health care and the full range of birth
control methods accessible to all. Still, the Reproductive Justice movement is
asking us to do more, to address the economic and social disparities that
underlie inequality along all three of these dimensions.
As Ms. Ross writes,
“We have to address directly the inequitable
distribution of power and resources within the [women’s] movement, holding our
allies and ourselves responsible for constructing principled, collaborative
relationships ... We also have to build the social, political and economic
power of low-income women, indigenous women, women of color, and their
communities so that they are full participating partners in building this new
movement.”
A call to action, to be sure!
We’d love to get some feedback from you about how we answer this call.