SisterSong

Last updated
SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective
Formation1997;26 years ago (1997)
Purpose Reproductive justice
Headquarters Atlanta
Website www.sistersong.net

The SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, also known as SisterSong, is a national activist organization dedicated to reproductive justice for women of color. [1]

Contents

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, SisterSong is a national membership organization with a focus on the Southern United States. They include and represent Indigenous, Black, Asian and Pacific Islander, Arab and Middle Eastern, Latinx, and queer women and trans people. SisterSong says that they strive to center the needs of the most marginalized people of color, such as people with low incomes, young mothers, people with criminalization experience, people with HIV/AIDS, sex workers, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ people. Membership also includes white and male allies. [2]

SisterSong has built a movement that now includes many independent organizations across the country, and they remain a movement thought leader, trainer, convener, organizer, and collaboration facilitator. [3] Monica Simpson has served as executive director since 2012. [4] [5]

History

Origins of reproductive justice

In 1994, just before attending the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo (at which international leaders would agree that the individual right to plan one's own family must be central to global development, rather than population control efforts), a group of black women gathered for a conference sponsored by the Illinois Pro-Choice Alliance and the Ms. Foundation for Women. Their goal was to create a statement about the Clinton administration's proposed Universal Health Care plan. [6] In the process, they coined "reproductive justice" as a combination of "reproductive rights" and "social justice." The women who created the reproductive justice framework were: Toni M. Bond Leonard, Reverend Alma Crawford, Evelyn S. Field, Terri James, Bisola Marignay, Cassandra McConnell, Cynthia Newbille, Loretta Ross, Elizabeth Terry, Mable Thomas, Winnette P. Willis, and Kim Youngblood. [7] They launched the reproductive justice framework by publishing a full-page statement titled "Black Women on Universal Health Care Reform" [6] with over 800 signatures in The Washington Post and Roll Call using the concept of reproductive justice in a criticism of the Clinton health care plan. [8]

These women believed that the creation of reproductive justice was necessary because they felt that the mainstream women's rights movement was led by and focused on the needs of middle class white women and did not meet the needs of women of color. [9] In their view, the pro-choice framework focused on maintaining abortion rights and did not take into account the many ways that women of color and other marginalized women and trans people have difficulty accessing abortion even in places where it is legally allowed. The creators of reproductive justice also felt that the pro-choice framework did not align with the experiences of women of color, who often feel that the impact of systemic oppression limits their possibilities, so their reproductive lives are not guided by the self-determination that is taken for granted in the word "choice". [10] In addition, they asserted that the mainstream women's rights movement did not center other pressing issues in the reproductive lives of women of color. These issues included sterilization abuse, forced and coerced promotion of LARCs (long-acting reversible contraceptives), high maternal mortality, difficulty accessing birth support choices, unsafe drinking water in family homes, police brutality, and parents being separated from children through racially biased immigration and incarceration practices. [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]

Reproductive justice advocates say that the framework strives to center the needs and leadership of the most marginalized people, rather than the majority, and to focus on how multiple oppressions intersect in the lived experience of marginalized people. [16] The creators of the reproductive justice framework rooted it in the international human rights framework, asserting that reproductive justice is an inalienable human right. [10]

SisterSong’s forerunner

In 1992, six national women of color organizations came together seeking to increase their impact on the mainstream women's rights/pro-choice movement and on US policy: Asians and Pacific Islanders for Choice, National Black Women's Health Project, National Latina Health Organization, Latina Roundtable on Health and Reproductive Rights, National Coalition of 100 Black Women, and Native American Women's Health and Education Resource Center. Together, they formed Women of Color Coalition for Reproductive Health Rights (WOCCRHR). [17]

Their first action was to encourage women of color to attend the 1992 March for Women's Lives organized by NOW (National Organization for Women), while also publicly critiquing NOW for their lack of inclusivity in planning the march. NOW's decision-making included only organizations able to make large financial contributions, which they claimed effectively excluded all organizations led by women of color, as these organizations generally lacked access to resources. [17]

WOCCRHR's second action was to organize women of color to influence the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, Egypt, in 1994 – the same conference that helped inspire the women who created the reproductive justice framework. WOCCRHR worked with other women of color to form the US Women of Color Delegation Project for the conference, and wrote a "Statement on Poverty, Development, and Population Activities". which they presented there. It connected the status of women of color in the US with that of women in developing countries and brought international attention to the issues faced by US women of color. [17]

WOCCRHR also helped women of color participate and influence the 1995 United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. Afterward, the coalition disbanded because their funding sources were focused on international work, and they were not able to find funding to continue their work within the US after the international conferences ended. [18]

SisterSong’s founding and history

SisterSong was founded in 1997 by 16 women-of-color-led organizations representing African American, Asian American and Pacific Islander, Latinx, and Indigenous women, the same populations represented in WOCCRHR. [1] [17] [19] [10] They received funding from the Ford Foundation. [20] [21] The organization emerged from a series of symposia in New York City and Savannah in 1997-1998 convened by Reena Marcelo, then a Program Officer at the Ford Foundation's Reproductive Health Program, and Luz Rodriguez, then executive director of Latina Roundtable on Health and Reproductive Rights. The purpose of these gatherings was to convene women of color reproductive health educators, activists, and policymakers to identify the key challenges grassroots organizations of color were experiencing in reproductive health work. Attendees decided to use the opportunity of these convenings to form a national collective of independent organizations that would help them all to achieve greater impact, and SisterSong was born with Luz Rodriguez as its first leader. [22] The original name of the collective was SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective, and the original mission was to advocate for the reproductive and sexual health needs of women of color. [17]

In its early history, SisterSong expanded to include other organizations led by women of color and to include individual women of color members. [22] Organizational members focused on issues including HIV/AIDS services, midwifery, support for incarcerated women, health screenings, advocacy for abortion and contraception, research, teen pregnancy, drug and alcohol treatment, and treatment and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. After several years of work to develop the collective, SisterSong hosted its first national conference in November 2003 at Spelman College in Atlanta with over 600 women of color in attendance. [18] [23]

SisterSong was a volunteer-run network until 2005, when they opened a national office in Atlanta and hired their first staff with funding from the Ford Foundation and the Moriah Fund. [22] The first staff leader was Loretta Ross, who served as National Coordinator from 2005 to 2012. One of the women who created the reproductive justice framework, Ross came with a long history of starting new organizations and programs related to human rights, violence against women, and anti-hate work. [24] Instead of a board of directors, SisterSong was led by a Management Circle of leaders from each ethnic community in the Collective: Indigenous, Black, Asian and Pacific Islander, and Latinx. [22]

In 2006 SisterSong incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. In 2007 the collective officially changed its name to SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective and purchased The Motherhouse in Atlanta, the historic first home of the National Black Women's Health Project, which remains the organization's headquarters today. [25] [22] SisterSong is strategically sited in the Deep South because they feel that this is where the rights of women of color are most threatened. [22]

In 2012, National Coordinator Loretta Ross decided to return to her roots as a scholar and thought leader working within academia. [26] With Ross's exit, SisterSong shifted from the Management Circle model to a conventional Board of Directors model and named Monica Raye Simpson, then the organization's Development Director, as Interim Executive Director in 2012 and executive director in 2013. [22] Monica Simpson had previously been the first staff person of color at Charlotte's Lesbian & Gay Community Center and won awards for organizing the first Black Gay Pride in the Bible Belt. She remains SisterSong's Executive Director today. [27]

In 2014, SisterSong selected four strategic priority areas:

  1. Reproductive justice training to build the capacity of reproductive justice advocates and groups and to bring the framework into mainstream use
  2. Centering black women's leadership and issues because SisterSong believes that black people are the most maligned in the US
  3. Building Southern synergy to increase reproductive justice collaboration across the region, which SisterSong asserts is critical because the South has powerful opponents of reproductive freedom linking their agenda to Southern culture, while Southern reproductive justice advocates are under-resourced and stretched thin working across large geographical areas
  4. Using arts and culture to reach new audiences and eradicate bigotry within US culture [28]

In 2016, SisterSong opened a second office in North Carolina focused on building a state-based reproductive justice movement there. [3]

Projects

Movement building

As the first reproductive justice organization, SisterSong has inspired or mentored many of its successors. SisterSong was particularly involved in launching New Voices for Reproductive Justice in 2004, Milwaukee Reproductive Justice Coalition in 2008, and Black Mamas Matter Alliance in 2017. [22]

Spreading the influence of reproductive justice

In 2005, SisterSong partnered with Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice and California Latinas for Reproductive Justice to host the first Funders’ Briefing on Reproductive Justice, specifically to explain the framework to foundations and persuade them to support movement organizations. [22] Numerous foundations now have programs devoted to funding reproductive justice work. [29] [30] [31] SisterSong has also influenced Planned Parenthood, [32] the Unitarian Universalist Association of America, [33] and the National Council of Jewish Women [34] to engage in reproductive justice activism, and they have presented before the United Nations and state legislators and at the White House during the Obama administration. [3] [35] Their work in promoting reproductive justice has brought the concept to national politics: Hillary Clinton discussed reproductive during her presidential campaign in 2016, [36] and Stacey Abrams mentioned it during her State of the Union Rebuttal in 2019. [37]

National conferences

In 2003, SisterSong hosted the first national conference on reproductive justice organized by women of color at Spelman College in Atlanta with over 600 attendees. [17] They hosted their first Let's Talk About Sex Conference in 2007 to talk openly about sex in relation to reproductive justice organizing. They repeated the Let's Talk About Sex Conference in 2011 and 2017. In 2014, they also launched the RJ Leadership Summit to convene the movement's leaders for insight sharing and movement-wide strategic planning. [22] [38] [39] [40]

Online organizing

From 2006 to 2012, SisterSong partnered with Ipas and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force to create and maintain a website mapping the sexual and reproductive laws in every US state to provide a tool for activists. [41] They continue to lead online organizing online. [42] [43]

Reproductive justice training

From 2004 to 2012, SisterSong published over a dozen issues of Collective Voices, the first reproductive justice news magazine. In 2006, they debuted RJ 101 training to introduce people to the reproductive justice framework. [22] Since then, they have added many other reproductive justice trainings. Many organizations, such as The Center For Reproductive Health Education in Family Medicine, draw from them. [44] In 2015, SisterSong relaunched Collective Voices as a free monthly webinar series with reproductive justice leaders talking about the intersections between reproductive justice and other topics. [22]

Organizing in Washington, DC

In 2004, SisterSong influenced the March for Choice to expand its agenda and become the March for Women's Lives; it was the largest march in US history, with 1.2 million participants. [45] Loretta Ross, who was to become SisterSong's leader the following year, co-directed the march. SisterSong also broadcast the perspectives of women of color at the march live on 115 radio stations in the Pacifica national network and produced Listen Up!, a documentary film following several women-of-color-led groups organizing the march. [46] [22]

In 2009, SisterSong organized over 300 women of color to visit 40 legislators’ offices on Capitol Hill to argue for abortion access and for immigrants’ healthcare access during healthcare debates. In 2010, they brought another large delegation from six Southern states to Washington DC to push for healthcare reform aimed to increase healthcare access for families of color. [22]

Billboard campaign and Trust Black Women

In 2010, SisterSong created the Trust Black Women partnership to change how the United States views black women by elevating black women's voices to eliminate stereotypes. [47] The partnership was triggered by anti-abortion billboards in Atlanta targeting black women and calling black children "an endangered species". [48]

The billboard campaign was complemented by a documentary film, Maafa 21, which was distributed to black churches and organizations and claimed that Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger was racist and that Planned Parenthood's agenda was genocide. The campaign culminated with an effort to pass a Georgia bill that would restrict abortions suspected of being motivated by the race or sex of the fetus. SisterSong disagreed with the accusation against Planned Parenthood and felt that the campaign was claiming that black women have a racial obligation to have babies, which overrides their personal desires and needs. SisterSong believed these efforts were seeking to divide black voters by gender and pro-choice voters by race, as well as to use anti-immigrant sentiments to bolster anti-abortion work by accusing Asian American women of aborting female fetuses due to son preference. SisterSong claimed that the bill would have led to racial profiling and intrusive interrogation of black and Asian American women seeking abortions, and that it would have violated patient confidentiality and made providers afraid to provide services because they could be criminalized. [47] [48]

SisterSong convened the Trust Black Women Partnership with nine black-women-led organizations to fight the billboards and abortion restriction bill, and the group defeated both. This effort led to the creation of the documentary An Abortion Conspiracy, produced by Stuart Productions and GritTV, which showcased Trust Black Women's work on the billboards, as well as other anti-abortion initiatives and efforts to challenge them. Another documentary, We Always Resist, was also created about Trust Black Women. [49] [22] In 2011, the organization Strong Families/Forward Together then worked with a coalition of multiracial groups to use SisterSong's billboard strategies to successfully take down anti-abortion billboards in Oakland, California. [50]

Trust Black Women is still in operation as a national alliance of black-women-led organizations. They say that they use communications and events to combat stereotype, amplify black women's voices, organize with black women and allies for black women's rights, and connect black women with holistic care methods and resources. Still led by SisterSong, they also partner with the Movement for Black Lives to raise awareness of and address the intersectional oppressions black women face. [47]

Southern RJ Network and Cohort

In 2010, SisterSong launched the Southern RJ Network because they felt that reproductive freedom was especially under attack in the South, making collaboration among reproductive justice groups particularly critical across the region. The Southern RJ Network then helped defeat a fetal personhood bill in Mississippi. [51] [52] It paused for SisterSong's leadership transition in 2012. In 2013, the Groundswell Fund formed the Southern RJ Cohort, and SisterSong became its leader. By 2017, the Southern RJ Cohort had 13 organizational members from nine Southern states and focused on the Southern RJ Policy Initiative, which aimed to stop policies threatening reproductive justice and advance policies that would move reproductive justice forward in the South. [22]

Linking reproductive justice and Black Lives Matter

In 2014, SisterSong expanded common perceptions of what constitutes a reproductive justice issue by hosting the Standing Our Ground for Marissa Alexander Summit in Jacksonville, Florida. [53] Florida's controversial Stand Your Ground law helped white man George Zimmerman win his freedom after shooting and killing Black teenager Trayvon Martin because he was wearing a hoodie, and Zimmerman profiled him as threatening. Yet the Stand Your Ground law did not protect Marissa Alexander, a Black woman who fired a gun in the air to defend her family by scaring off an abusive partner. SisterSong published articles that called this as a reproductive justice issue, saying that Alexander was imprisoned and separated from her children as punishment for defending herself and them from an abuser. SisterSong and the Free Marissa Now Campaign hosted a two-day summit on racism within the criminal justice system, domestic violence, and Southern reproductive justice. They also hosted a benefit concert for Alexander and a march and rally with over 200 people at the Duval County Courthouse. By showing how racial bias in the criminal justice system impacts women, children, and families, this work linked reproductive justice with Black Lives Matter. [22]

In 2015, Trust Black Women followed up on this connection by publishing a statement of solidarity with Black Lives Matter. [54] [55] It was announced in a media call with Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza, who talked about beginning her organizing career in the reproductive justice movement. Garza has continued to highlight the work of Trust Black Women and SisterSong, including a 2019 article about activism in the face of Georgia and Alabama's abortion bans. [56]

Engaging Planned Parenthood in reproductive justice

In a July 2014 article, TheNew York Times interviewed Cecile Richards, the executive director of Planned Parenthood, talking about why the term "pro-choice" has been falling out of favor. [57] The article did not mention that women of color have been leading the critique of this term since articulating reproductive justice in 1994. In response, SisterSong published an open letter to Planned Parenthood that was signed by 39 organizations and 24 individuals and asked Richards to correct the article and publicly recognize the leadership of women of color. [58] Richards complied immediately. She also invited SisterSong to bring a group of reproductive justice leaders to discuss how Planned Parenthood could do more to support reproductive justice organizations. [59] This led to Planned Parenthood providing funding for reproductive justice groups, honoring leaders of color in their annual 99 Dreamkeepers, engaging SisterSong to train them in reproductive justice and advise their strategic planning, and hosting their first reproductive justice conference in 2016. [22]

Black Mamas Matter

In 2014, SisterSong partnered with the Center for Reproductive Rights and National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health on a study about the high maternal mortality rates among Southern women of color, especially Black women. They wrote a shadow report that SisterSong presented to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which adopted all of the report's recommendations. [35] SisterSong then spoke about the issue at the 2015 Women in the World Summit. [60]

Afterward, SisterSong and the Center for Reproductive Rights founded the Black Mamas Matter Alliance, a collaboration of 24 Black-women-led organizations who work to raise awareness about the rising black maternal mortality rate. [61] [62] They created the Black Mamas Matter Toolkit, an online resource for groups interested in working to reduce Black maternal mortality. Black Mamas Matter grew to nearly 40 organizational members, and in 2017 became the Black Mamas Matter Alliance, an independent nonprofit fiscally sponsored by SisterSong. [3] [61]

Artists United

In 2016, SisterSong launched the Artists United for RJ program to facilitate artists of color to create collaborative, replicable artwork to advance reproductive justice. [63] Projects have included concerts that raise funds and/or awareness for reproductive justice issues and Autonomy, a play designed to travel to college campuses and introduce Black students to reproductive justice. [3] [64] [65] [66]

SisterSong North Carolina

In 2016, SisterSong opened a second office in North Carolina, where there were previously no reproductive justice organizations. In February 2018, SisterSong began advocating for a review of a North Carolina Department of Public Safety policies that allows for pregnant inmates to be shackled to a hospital bed while in labor. [67] The department later revised their policy to clearly define when wrist restraints must be removed. [68] [69]

Georgia abortion ban

In 2019, SisterSong acted as the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against Georgia legislators for passing a six-week abortion ban, which bans abortion before most women even know they are pregnant. Reproductive justice advocates say that the ban is unconstitutional, and that its proponents passed it to force a court case that could reach the Supreme Court. After the 2019 confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, they believe that the balance of the Supreme Court became tilted against abortion rights, so bringing the abortion ban case to the Supreme Court could give it a chance to overturn Roe v. Wade , the 1972 decision that protects the legal right to abortion throughout the US. [70] [71]

Other collaborations

SisterSong is also involved in the Over the Counter Contraception Working Group [72] and the All* Above All Campaign to repeal the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funding from supporting abortion services, which means that women on public healthcare, federal employees, and others cannot receive healthcare coverage for abortions. [73]

In 2018, SisterSong co-founded the Southeast Alliance for Reproductive Equity (SEARE) with SPARK Reproductive Justice Now, Healthy and Free TN, and Women's Rights Empowerment Network (WREN). [74] This alliance uses the Collective Impact model to foster collaboration among reproductive justice, reproductive rights, and reproductive health groups throughout the South. [3]

Also in 2018, SisterSong co-founded a collaboration to combat religious exemption laws with Atlanta Jobs with Justice, Women Engaged, and Georgia Equality. This is a cross-movement collaboration of reproductive justice, economic justice, and LGBTQ rights groups. [3] [75]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States abortion-rights movement</span> Support for womens right to elective abortion

The United States abortion-rights movement is a sociopolitical movement in the United States supporting the view that a woman should have the legal right to an elective abortion, meaning the right to terminate her pregnancy, and is part of a broader global abortion-rights movement. The movement consists of a variety of organizations, with no single centralized decision-making body.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">March for Women's Lives (2004)</span> Mass demonstration for womens rights in Washington, D.C.

The March for Women's Lives was a protest demonstration held on April 25, 2004 at the National Mall in Washington, D. C. There was approximately 1.3 million participants. The demonstration was led by seven groups; National Organization for Women, American Civil Liberties Union, Black Women’s Health Imperative, Feminist Majority, NARAL Pro Choice America, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The march was intended to address topics such as abortion rights, reproductive health care, women's rights, and others. Originally named the March for Freedom, the march was renamed in an effort to expand the message of "pro-choice" to include the right to have children, access to pre and post natal care, as well as sex education that were not always accessible for women of color.

Byllye Yvonne Avery is an American health care activist. A proponent of reproductive justice, Avery has worked to develop healthcare services and education that address black women's mental and physical health stressors. She is best known as the founder of the National Black Women's Health Project, the first national organization to specialize in Black women's reproductive health issues. For her work with the NBWHP, she has received the MacArthur Foundation's Fellowship for Social Contribution and the Gustav O. Lienhard Award for the Advancement of Health Care from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, among other awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faye Wattleton</span> American activist

Faye Wattleton is an American reproductive rights activist who was the first African American and the youngest president ever elected of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and the first woman since Margaret Sanger to hold the position. She is currently Co-founder & Director at EeroQ, a quantum computing company. She is best known for her contributions to family planning and reproductive health, and the reproductive rights movement.

Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity (URGE) is a national youth-led reproductive rights and justice non-profit organization in the United States based in Washington, D.C. that began as Choice USA in 1992. Choice USA changed its name to URGE in July 2014.

Reproductive justice is a critical feminist framework that was invented as a response to United States reproductive politics. The three core values of reproductive justice are the right to have a child, the right to not have a child, and the right to parent a child or children in safe and healthy environments. The framework moves women's reproductive rights past a legal and political debate to incorporate the economic, social, and health factors that impact women's reproductive choices and decision-making ability.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1977 National Women's Conference</span> Four-day event in Houston, Texas

The National Women's Conference of 1977 was a four-day event during November 18–21, 1977, as organized by the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year. The conference drew around, 2,000 delegates along with 15,000-20,000 observers in Houston, Texas, United States. The United States Congress approved $5 million in public appropriations for both the state and national conferences as HR 9924, sponsored by Congresswoman Patsy Mink, which Ford signed into law. In 1977 at the start of his presidency, President Jimmy Carter chose a new Commission and appointed Congresswoman Bella Abzug to head it. Numerous events were held over the next two years, culminating in the National Women's Conference.

<i>Maafa 21</i> 2009 film by Mark Crutcher

Maafa 21: Black Genocide in 21st Century America is an anti-abortion documentary film produced by anti-abortion activist Mark Crutcher in 2009. The film, which has been enthusiastically received by anti-abortion activists, argues that the modern-day prevalence of abortion among African Americans is rooted in an attempted genocide or the maafa of black people. The film is part of an anti-abortion, anti-birth control campaign aimed at African Americans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaylon Alcaraz</span> American community organizer and human rights activist

Gaylon Alcaraz is an American community organizer and human rights activist in Chicago, Illinois. She is the former executive director of the Chicago Abortion Fund. Her autobiography, Tales of a Woojiehead, was published by Blackgurl Press in 2002.

The Feminist Women's Health Center of Atlanta is a feminist health center that provides comprehensive gynecological health care, engages in community outreach, and advocates for reproductive justice. Kwajelyn Jackson has been the executive director since 2018.

African Americans', or Black Americans', access and use of birth control are central to many social, political, cultural and economic issues in the United States. Birth control policies in place during American slavery and the Jim Crow era highly influenced Black attitudes toward reproductive management methods. Other factors include African-American attitudes towards family, sex and reproduction, religious views, social support structures, black culture, and movements towards bodily autonomy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loretta Ross</span> African American activist, writer and teacher on reproductive justice

Loretta J. Ross is an American academic, feminist, and activist who advocates for reproductive justice, especially among women of color. As an activist, Ross has written on reproductive justice activism and the history of African American women.

Monica Simpson is a queer Black activist, artist, and executive director of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, the United States' largest organization dedicated to reproductive justice for women of color.

Luz Rodriguez is a Puerto Rican reproductive rights advocate.

Latina Roundtable on Health and Reproductive Rights (LRHRR) was a Latina reproductive rights organization based in New York City.

Abortion in Illinois is legal. Laws about abortion dated to the early 1800s in Illinois; the first criminal penalties related to abortion were imposed in 1827, and abortion itself became illegal in 1867. As hospitals set up barriers in the 1950s, the number of therapeutic abortions declined. Following Roe v. Wade in 1973, Illinois passed a number of restrictions on abortion, many of which have subsequently been repealed. Illinois updated its existing abortion laws in June 2019. The state has seen a decline in the number of abortion clinics over the years, going from 58 in 1982 to 47 in 1992 to 24 in 2014.

Nkenge Touré is a leader in the Reproductive Justice, Anti-Racism, and Black women's health movements and a former member of the Black Panther Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Network of Abortion Funds</span> Organization dedicated to increasing access to abortion for low-income people across the U.S.

The National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF) is a national social justice organization that aims to increase access to abortion for low-income people across the U.S.

The National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice is a health and reproductive rights organization representing the Latina community living in the United States. Previously the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, the organization started as The Latina Initiative, which was created in direct response to the lack of Latina visibility on reproductive rights and health issues. Its mission is to ensure the fundamental human right to reproductive health for Latinas, their families and their communities through education, advocacy and coalition building.

References

  1. 1 2 "SisterSong". Sister Song. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  2. ↑ "SisterSong Women Of Color Reproductive Justice Collective | Civil Liberties and Public Policy". clpp.hampshire.edu. Retrieved 2019-07-15.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "SisterSong Guide Star Profile". www.guidestar.org. Retrieved 2019-07-15.
  4. ↑ Villarosa, Linda (2018-04-11). "Why America's Black Mothers and Babies Are in a Life-or-Death Crisis". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  5. ↑ "Team SisterSong". Sister Song. Retrieved 2019-03-27.
  6. 1 2 "Black Women on Universal Health Care Reform". Black Women for Reproductive Justice. 2012-08-08. Retrieved 2019-07-15.
  7. ↑ "RJ Founding Mothers". Black Women for Reproductive Justice. 2012-08-08. Retrieved 2019-07-15.
  8. ↑ "Reproductive Justice". Sister Song. Retrieved 2019-07-15.
  9. ↑ Gould, Ketayun H. (1984). "Black Women in Double Jeopardy: A Perspective on Birth Control". Health & Social Work. 9 (2): 96–105. doi:10.1093/hsw/9.2.96. ISSN   1545-6854. PMID   6724429.
  10. 1 2 3 Ross, Loretta; Solinger, Rickie (2019-12-31). Reproductive Justice. Berkeley: University of California Press. doi:10.1525/9780520963207. ISBN   9780520963207. S2CID   198803204.
  11. ↑ Patel, Priti (2017-07-14). "Forced Sterilization of Women as Discrimination". Public Health Reviews. 38 (15): 15. doi: 10.1186/s40985-017-0060-9 . PMC   5809857 . PMID   29450087.
  12. ↑ "Our Bodies, Ourselves: Reproductive Rights", Feminism is for Everybody, Routledge, 2014-10-10, pp. 25–30, doi:10.4324/9781315743189-5, ISBN   9781315743189
  13. ↑ "Volume 03, Issue 05 - 1939-06-01". doi:10.1163/36722_meao_japantimesweekly_003_05.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  14. ↑ Showstack, Randy (2018-07-19). "Youth Urge Action on Climate Change and Environmental Justice". Eos. 99. doi: 10.1029/2018eo103047 . ISSN   2324-9250.
  15. ↑ "Advancing Human Rights: The State of Global Foundation Grantmaking - Sexual and Reproductive Rights". New York, NY United States. 2013-01-01. doi: 10.15868/socialsector.24920 .{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  16. ↑ Ross, Loretta J. (2017-07-03). "Reproductive Justice as Intersectional Feminist Activism". Souls. 19 (3): 286–314. doi: 10.1080/10999949.2017.1389634 . ISSN   1099-9949. S2CID   149225354.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Silliman, Jael Miriam; Fried, Marlene Gerber; Gutiérrez, Elena; Ross, Loretta (2004). Undivided Rights: Women of Color Organize for Reproductive Justice . South End Press. ISBN   9780896087293.
  18. 1 2 Solinger, Rickie (April 2005). "BOOK REVIEW: Jael Silliman, Marlene Gerber Fried, Elena Guterrez, and Loretta Ross. UNDIVIDED RIGHTS: WOMEN OF COLOR ORGANIZE FOR REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE. Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2004". NWSA Journal. 17 (1): 239–241. ISSN   1040-0656. JSTOR   4317117.
  19. ↑ Ross, Loretta; Derkas, Erika; Peoples, Whitney; Roberts, Lynn; Bridgewater, Pamela (2017-10-16). Radical Reproductive Justice: Foundation, Theory, Practice, Critique. Feminist Press at CUNY. ISBN   9781936932047.
  20. ↑ Price, Kimala (2010). "What is Reproductive Justice?: How Women of Color Activists Are Redefining the Pro-Choice Paradigm". Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism. 10 (2): 42–65. doi:10.2979/meridians.2010.10.2.42. ISSN   1547-8424. S2CID   145330421.
  21. ↑ "SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective records, 1996-2010".
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Let's Talk About Sex Conference: 2017 Program Book, SisterSong
  23. ↑ Roberts, Lynn; Ross, Loretta; Kuumba, M. Bahati (2005). "The Reproductive Health and Sexual Rights of Women of Color: Still Building a Movement". NWSA Journal. 17 (1): 93–98. ISSN   1040-0656. JSTOR   4317103. S2CID   143305716.
  24. ↑ "LorettaRoss.com - Biography". LorettaRoss.com. Retrieved 2019-07-15.
  25. ↑ "SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective records, 1996-2010". Five College Archives and Manuscript Collections. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  26. ↑ "A Message of Thanks and Transition from SisterSong". myemail.constantcontact.com. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  27. ↑ "Team SisterSong". Sister Song. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  28. ↑ "Collection: SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective records | Smith College Finding Aids". findingaids.smith.edu. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  29. ↑ "Catalyst Fund • Groundswell Fund". Groundswell Fund. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  30. ↑ "Focus". Ms. Foundation for Women. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  31. ↑ "US program". Ford Foundation. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  32. ↑ "#StandWithBlackWomen for Black History Month". www.plannedparenthoodaction.org. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  33. ↑ "Reproductive Justice". UUA.org. 2015-07-07. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  34. ↑ "Connect, Collaborate, Advocate – National Council of Jewish Women, Los Angeles-NCJW|LA". www.ncjwla.org. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  35. 1 2 Villarosa, Linda (2018-04-11). "Why America's Black Mothers and Babies Are in a Life-or-Death Crisis". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  36. ↑ Lachman, Samantha (2016-06-10). "Hillary Spoke About Reproductive Justice In A Truly Intersectional Way". HuffPost. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  37. ↑ "Stacey Abrams got the country talking about a 6-week abortion ban in Georgia". ThinkProgress . Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  38. ↑ Clark, Nicole; LMSW (2011-07-12). "Get Ready for Let's Talk About Sex: Love, Legislation, & Leadership". Nicole Clark Consulting. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  39. ↑ "Live From SisterSong: Let's Talk About Sex!". Rewire.News. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  40. ↑ "Sister Song's Let's Talk About Sex Conference: October 2017". Womens Health Specialists. 2017-04-20. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  41. ↑ "Advocacy Groups Rank States Based on Reproductive, Sexual Rights". now.org. 2 June 2006. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  42. ↑ "SisterSong (@SisterSong_WOC) | Twitter". twitter.com. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  43. ↑ "SisterSong". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  44. ↑ "Our Reproductive Justice Approach – RHEDI". rhedi.org. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  45. ↑ Currans, Elizabeth (2017-10-01). Marching Dykes, Liberated Sluts, and Concerned Mothers. University of Illinois Press. doi:10.5622/illinois/9780252041259.001.0001. ISBN   9780252041259.
  46. ↑ "Reproductive Justice, Not Just Rights". Dissent Magazine. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  47. 1 2 3 "Our History". #Trust Black Women. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  48. 1 2 Dewan, Shaila (2010-02-05). "Anti-Abortion Billboards on Race Split Opinion in Atlanta". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  49. ↑ "WE ALWAYS RESIST: TRUST BLACK WOMEN Black Women and Reproductive Freedom". NC Blogs for Reproductive Rights. 2011-09-29. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  50. ↑ "The Largely Forgotten History of Abortion Billboard Advertising—and What Pro-Choice Advocates Can Learn From It". Rewire.News. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  51. ↑ Cupaiuolo, Christine (2011-11-08). "What the Mississippi Personhood Amendment Can Teach Us About Organizing Around Reproductive Rights and Justice". Our Bodies Ourselves. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  52. ↑ Jaffe, Sarah. "The New Abortion Wars". www.refinery29.com. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  53. ↑ "Standing Our Ground: Reproductive Justice for Marissa Alexander". Rewire.News. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  54. ↑ "Solidarity w/ BLM". #Trust Black Women. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  55. ↑ Rankin, Kenrya (2016-02-09). "Black Lives Matter Partners With Reproductive Justice Groups to Fight for Black Women". ColorLines. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  56. ↑ Garza, Alicia (2019-05-29). "Can We Have a Conversation About Abortion Bans and the South?". Marie Claire. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  57. ↑ Calmes, Jackie (2014-07-28). "Advocates Shun 'Pro-Choice' to Expand Message". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  58. ↑ "Reproductive Justice and 'Choice': An Open Letter to Planned Parenthood". Rewire.News. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  59. ↑ "A Response to an Open Letter on Reproductive Justice and 'Choice'". Rewire.News. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  60. ↑ "Women in the World Summit 2015 – Women in the World". womenintheworld.com. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  61. 1 2 "About". Black Mamas Matter Alliance. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  62. ↑ "Centering Black Women's Issues & Leadership". Sister Song. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  63. ↑ "The Feministing Five: Monica Simpson". Feministing. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  64. ↑ "Artists Show Tonight To Benefit Spirit House And Charlotte Uprising". The Light 103.9 FM. 2016-10-28. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  65. ↑ "Artists United for Reproductive Justice Webinar". Taja Lindley. 21 May 2016. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  66. ↑ "ATL Casting Call: Actresses, Singers, Dancers, Crew". Black TV Film Crew. 2018-06-08. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  67. ↑ "NC prisons reconsider whether to strap pregnant inmates to their beds during childbirth". newsobserver. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  68. ↑ "What's Next in the Fight for Reproductive Justice for Incarcerated Women". Ms. Magazine Blog. 2018-04-24. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  69. ↑ Willets, Sarah (2018-03-26). "Under Pressure, NC Prisons Revise Policy on Restraining Pregnant Detainees". INDY Week. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  70. ↑ "New Abortion Ban Lawsuit Places Black Georgians Squarely at the Center of the Fight #ABLC". Rewire.News. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  71. ↑ Galloway, Jim. "SisterSong v. Brian Kemp is part lawsuit, part feminist manifesto". ajc. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  72. ↑ "Support of the Oral Contraceptives Over-the Counter Working Group – SAHM". www.adolescenthealth.org. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  73. ↑ Redden, Molly (2016-07-26). "Clinton leads way on abortion rights as Democrats seek end to decades-old rule". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  74. ↑ "Southeastern Alliance for Reproductive Equity (SEARE)". SPARK Reproductive Justice NOW. 2019-02-26. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  75. ↑ "Monday: Civil Rights Advocates to Address Discriminatory Religious Exemption Bills in Georgia and Nationwide". The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. 2016-01-29. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.