Reproductive Justice
By Onyinye Emeli
According to SisterSong “Reproductive Justice is the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities.”
This is not a hard concept to grasp, is it? Apparently, it is. I thoroughly enjoyed reading for class on the reproductive rights Latinx movement. Once again, I am in awe of these badass women.
I have been doing some research on this movement and it is not surprising to find that racism has a big role to play here. The video below gives a very brief but informative history of the racist roots in the American Reproductive “system”
Although this movement was started by black women, I am most especially intrigued and furious at the South American medical system and how its women are treated and prevented from making reproductive decisions for themselves.
My friend Lupe is doing currently doing research that this reading reminded me of. She found in her research, that there are doctors who have been sterilizing the reproductive organs of Mexican women, leading them to believe that they cannot have children. Once again. disappointed but not surprised.
In many African countries, female genital mutilation is very prevalent with the sole purpose of reducing female sexual desire or even pleasure. This is usually done either at birth or when a girl is in her teenage years and understands what exactly is being done to her. Women have been taught for many years to not see the value in their bodies and their worth and I find it empowering that there are movements directed to stopping this.
The Latinx reproductive rights movement has opened my eyes to see that although women as a whole suffer when it comes to reproductive rights, marginalized women of color suffer more.
The National Latina Institute For Reproductive justice focuses on really amplifying the voices of Latinx women and their rights to their bodies. This institute does an amazing job of really expanding and making sure that it is not just in a location where there is a high number of Latinas however has spread across the nation so that many can reach it. One of the many admirable things that have come from this institute is the community that these women find when they visit different locations. One of the problems with healthcare is the lack of diversity and inclusion. When you go into a place and find people who look like you and are willing to help you, there is a level of peace that comes with it.
Another institution that I feel is important to highlight is its branch in California which tackles access to health insurance. Many are not being treated or even examined in hospitals without health insurance and I can speak from experience when I say that Health Insurance is EXPENSIVE. Most especially when you belong to a low-income community. They emphasized that a lack of health coverage could prevent women from texts like pap smears, std testing, mammograms, and regular checkups. Their inability to afford health insurance thus forces them to access public healthcare facilities that can be a ruse to actually make them worse than they are.
After reading all of this, I believe that it is important for this movement to continue. We have to shake the tables where decisions are made because its mostly men that occupy those tables. The video below warms my heart but also aggravates me at the same time. This is a video of women belonging in different generations talking about the movement and how things have changed. While I acknowledge that things are indeed different, I cannot say that things are good. There are still women out there that are blinded by the notion that women do not need to make their own decisions on what happens to their body.
I am excited to see this change and hope that when I get to talk to generations following me, they won’t be going through the same issues.
Works Cited:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/california-targeted-latinas-forced-sterilization-180968567/
https://www.latinainstitute.org/en/Vision-Values-Strategic-Framework
https://californialatinas.org/resources/policy-briefs/