“What is Reproductive Justice” by Kimala Price, “Killing the Black Body” by Dorothy Roberts, and “All This That Has Happened to Me Shouldn’t Happen to Nobody Else” by Jennifer Nelson discuss women of color’s battle for reproductive justice and respect within the reproductive rights movement. Price’s “What is Reproductive Justice”, provides an in-depth introduction and overview of the movement for reproductive justice and the WOC organizations working to address these issues. “Killing the Black Body”, analyses the root and history of reproductive injustices facing Black women in the United States, and the continued devaluation of Black women’s bodies. “All This That Has Happened to Me Shouldn’t Happen to Nobody Else”, discusses Loretta Ross’
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Reproductive rights are traditionally considered a White woman’s cause - focusing on access to birth control and abortion. For women of color, who have been historically disenfranchised from their own bodies, the movement for reproductive justice focuses on the ability to have complete access and control of their own bodies. WOC’s movement emphasizes the ability to care for one’s own children - rather than someone elses’, and to have control over their reproductive systems - to choose when and how they will procreate, without the interference of sterilization or medical or judicial coercion. Reproductive justice, in the simplest sense, can be explained by the NAACP’s resolution for reproductive justice, “A woman denied the right to control her own body is denied equal protection under the law” (Cassie, as told by …show more content…
When an enslaved Black woman could no longer procreate, due to age or an illness, her value significantly decreased. After the abolition of slavery, the message that arose from White Americans, was that Black women who procreated were creating societal burdens, thus creating the beginning of years-long reversal and punishment of Black women for procreating. Roberts explains this, “America has always viewed unregulated Black reproduction as dangerous. For three centuries, Black mothers have been thought to pass down to their offspring the traits that marked them as inferior to any white person” (Roberts). Myths were created to support the idea that Black women passed on dangerous traits to their children through lack of care during pregnancy and careless child-rearing. Roberts argues that you cannot understand or truly support the current reproductive justice movement without understanding three tenets: one, “regulating Black women’s reproductive decisions has been a central aspect of racial oppression in America”, two,“the control of Black women’s reproduction has shaped the meaning of reproductive liberty in America”, and three, “we need to reconsider the meaning of reproductive liberty to take into account its relationship to racial oppression”
Reproductive rights are traditionally considered a White woman’s cause - focusing on access to birth control and abortion. For women of color, who have been historically disenfranchised from their own bodies, the movement for reproductive justice focuses on the ability to have complete access and control of their own bodies. WOC’s movement emphasizes the ability to care for one’s own children - rather than someone elses’, and to have control over their reproductive systems - to choose when and how they will procreate, without the interference of sterilization or medical or judicial coercion. Reproductive justice, in the simplest sense, can be explained by the NAACP’s resolution for reproductive justice, “A woman denied the right to control her own body is denied equal protection under the law” (Cassie, as told by …show more content…
When an enslaved Black woman could no longer procreate, due to age or an illness, her value significantly decreased. After the abolition of slavery, the message that arose from White Americans, was that Black women who procreated were creating societal burdens, thus creating the beginning of years-long reversal and punishment of Black women for procreating. Roberts explains this, “America has always viewed unregulated Black reproduction as dangerous. For three centuries, Black mothers have been thought to pass down to their offspring the traits that marked them as inferior to any white person” (Roberts). Myths were created to support the idea that Black women passed on dangerous traits to their children through lack of care during pregnancy and careless child-rearing. Roberts argues that you cannot understand or truly support the current reproductive justice movement without understanding three tenets: one, “regulating Black women’s reproductive decisions has been a central aspect of racial oppression in America”, two,“the control of Black women’s reproduction has shaped the meaning of reproductive liberty in America”, and three, “we need to reconsider the meaning of reproductive liberty to take into account its relationship to racial oppression”