REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE: BEYOND THE CHOICE PARADIGM Crystallee R. Crain, MA

Agenda  Introduction (5 min)  Framing the Movement (15 min)  Defining Our Role (5 min)  Intersectionality in Action (15 min)  Connecting the Issues **** (15 min)  Closing and Commitments (20 minutes)

Goals  Goal #1: Identify and examine the complex and interwoven branches of reproductive justice.  Goal #2: Through this examination, define differences and similarities between reproductive oppression, reproductive health, reproductive rights, and reproductive justice.  Goal #3: Show intersectionality especially highlighting its connection to RJ.

Introduction: The Three Approaches  Reproductive Rights: Based on universal legal protections for women, men, and trans people such as Roe v. Wade.  Reproductive Health: Emphasizes the necessary reproductive health services that women, men, and trans people need.  Reproductive Justice: Stipulates that reproductive oppression is the result of the intersections of multiple oppressions and is inherently connected to the struggle for social justice and human rights.

Why is it important to focus on…  Reproductive Oppression: The controlling and regulation of our gender, bodies, and sexuality.

Framing: Why Beyond Choice?  Organizing around reproductive rights has been happening in the U.S. for over 150 years.  As reproductive health technologies continue to grow, more and more options suddenly became available to people in this country and around the world.  Simultaneously, the movement to keep the health options out of the hands of women and men has been active and engaged as well.  As we make our way into a world where reproductive health services and options are increasing every day, we also need to understand the history behind how these technologies have been used against specific communities.

Why Beyond Choice?  Historically, young women, women of color, immigrant women, queer people, differently abled people, and low- income women have had difficulty accessing the information, resources, and services they deserve.  Because of issues of marginalization (certain communities being disregarded when working on these issues) it is critical that we work now to make certain that these needs are met.  This required all of us re-examine women’s movement; the good the bad and the ugly and how these issue were not take up by the broader women’s/feminist movement.  Roots of the reproductive justice framework can be traced to the 1970s, when women of color organizations criticized the term "choice" in the mainstream reproductive rights movement.

Hearing from our community.  Loretta Ross of Sister Song 

Defining our Role: Discussion! How do you address issues that impact individuals with multiple levels of oppression and systemic discrimination? How do you create a movement for reproductive justice that does not focus on one group of people but is inclusive by nature?

At your tables PICK AN ISSUE, HOW DOES REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE (AS A FRAMEWORK) IMPACT THESE COMMUNITIES.  Immigrant Communities  LGBTQ Communities  Workers  Students  Incarcerated Individuals  Young Mothers  Foster Care Youth

Bringing Intersectionality Into the Picture  Reproductive Justice takes into account the person as a whole. It ensures that all people regardless of race, gender, immigration status, sexuality, socio-economic status, the language you speak, etc have ACCESS to the legally guaranteed rights that Reproductive Rights movement has fought to achieve. So just because there are laws that have been created and are being enforced doesn’t mean that it applies to everyone.  We are not advocating for a movement focused from one approach over another. It is important that people are advancing all three movements for us to achieve a more just society.

Intersectionality  Because Reproductive Justice moves beyond the matter of making services legal, we are able to increase the scope of our work to ensure that the fight for access remains at the center of what we are striving for.  Now we are going to use the lens to look at issues that are traditionally associated with the Reproductive Rights Movement, and how they shift through a RJ lens – how communities that face oppression based on race, class, immigration status, sexuality, and ability have different experiences around these issues.  This process allows us to see another set of issues and experiences that are often marginalized or made invisible in the mainstream movement.

Example  POLISH: The nail salon industry in California is one of the examples cited, because it is a fast-growing industry that exposes workers to toxic chemicals, some unregulated, that contribute to global warming. The ACRJ’s POLISH program works with the nail care industry to improve the health of nail care workers and to reduce negative environmental impacts. Further, [a] reproductive justice analysis of working conditions in nail salons directs improvements not only to making the nail salon environment one that is conducive to good health, but also to increasing wages, improving benefits, reducing working hours, reducing harassment and discrimination, and creating more educational opportunities for workers.

Committments  Personally write two commitments – one for yourself and one for your work – regarding how they will address power dynamics personally and in their work and make the space an example of the change they would like to one day see in society.

 Questions!