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Reproductive justice or applying a social justice lens to sexual, reproductive and maternal health and rights

Reproductive justice or applying a social justice lens to sexual, reproductive and maternal health and rights

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Page 1: Reproductive justice or applying a social justice lens to sexual, reproductive and maternal health and rights

Reproductive justiceor applying a social justice lens to sexual, reproductive and maternal

health and rights

Page 2: Reproductive justice or applying a social justice lens to sexual, reproductive and maternal health and rights

• 40 years of activism in favour of sexual and reproductive health and rights

• Mission * To inform and stimulate critical reflection* To defend women's rights* To promote free choice on issues of maternity

The FQPN works on these issues from a feminist, health

promotion, and social justice perspective

Page 3: Reproductive justice or applying a social justice lens to sexual, reproductive and maternal health and rights

FQPN’ processTwo-year strategic planning• Quebec's contemporary social and political context• Feminist reflexion on intersectionality• Relative uniformity of the organization and its members in terms of

social representationThe FQPN concluded that its methods did not reach women in

all of their diversities and that the organization needed to initiate a process to review the means put in place to carry out its mission

Investigated new approaches and initiatives

2008

research

roundtables

writing

today

Page 4: Reproductive justice or applying a social justice lens to sexual, reproductive and maternal health and rights
Page 5: Reproductive justice or applying a social justice lens to sexual, reproductive and maternal health and rights

What is reproductive justice (RJ)?

Reproductive justice is both an analytical and a practical approach as well as a movement that began to appear in the United States in the 1990s. The phrase was developed by African-American women during the International Conference on Population and Development, held in Cairo in 1994. It resulted from a fusion between “social justice” and “reproductive rights”. Reproductive justice places the fulfillment of complete sexual and reproductive autonomy for women and girls within the larger sphere of social justice. This movement emerged from the initiative of Indigenous women and women of colour and they continue to advance the initiative.

Page 6: Reproductive justice or applying a social justice lens to sexual, reproductive and maternal health and rights

(1) Emergence

Reproductive justice is rooted in the struggles and resistances of Indigenous women, women of colour and otherwise traditionally marginalised women against multiple reproductive oppressions that constrain their bodily autonomy and reproductive destiny

• Coercive sterilisation • Non-acces to sexual, reproductive and maternal health services• Prescription of invasive and dangerous contraceptive methods• Removal of their children by child services• Forced reproduction (slavery)

Page 7: Reproductive justice or applying a social justice lens to sexual, reproductive and maternal health and rights
Page 8: Reproductive justice or applying a social justice lens to sexual, reproductive and maternal health and rights
Page 9: Reproductive justice or applying a social justice lens to sexual, reproductive and maternal health and rights

Reproductive justice fights against all forms of sexual, reproductive and maternal oppressions that affect the

lives of women and girls. It also fights against the social, political, economic and cultural conditions that contribute to producing, reinforcing and perpetuating

these oppressions

Reproductive oppression is the control and exploitation of women, girls, and individuals through their bodies, sexuality, labor, and reproduction. The regulation of women and individuals thus becomes a powerful strategic pathway to control entire communities. It involves systems of oppression that are based on ‘race’, (dis)ability, class, gender, sexuality, age and immigration status

Page 10: Reproductive justice or applying a social justice lens to sexual, reproductive and maternal health and rights

(2) EmergenceBorn from the critics of pro-choice mainstream US

groups

• Abortion as a primary and single issue• ‘Choice’• ‘Unfortunate’ alliances

The US mainstream pro-choice movement showed a lack of class and ‘race’ analysis, and a lack of solidarity. Real solidarity would and should mean promoting and defending the needs and rights of all women

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Page 12: Reproductive justice or applying a social justice lens to sexual, reproductive and maternal health and rights

Its objectives

Page 13: Reproductive justice or applying a social justice lens to sexual, reproductive and maternal health and rights

Its theoryReproductive justice uses the intersectional approach as a framework. This theory can

be summarized as such:

• It is rooted in the lived experiences of people;• it takes into account the multiplicity of systems of oppression and their combined

and simultaneous impacts on individuals, families and communities;• It explains how these oppression/privilege systems are maintained through social

policies and institutional structures, as well as personal interactions; • It asks us to reconsider our understanding of power and oppression/privilege. An

individual or group can be simultaneously in positions of power and oppression in different contexts. Oppression is fluid and changeable, it operates at multiple levels and must be fought at all these levels....

Page 14: Reproductive justice or applying a social justice lens to sexual, reproductive and maternal health and rights

Its strategy

A reproductive justice project must• Put the most excluded/marginalized communities into positions of

leadership;• Build their capacity for social, political and economic empowerment;• Advance concrete and often campaign- or project-based agendas;• Integrate grassroots issues and multi-racial, multi-generational and

multi-class constituencies into the national policy arena;• Build networks with allied organizations.

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Exemple

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Forces of the RJ movement• Support and strengthen Indigenous women/ women of colour’s

activism • Encourage the empowerment of women through self-help and the

deconstruction of internalized oppression• Expand the definition of reproductive rights• Create diversified approaches to ensure that the voices and needs

of all women are heard• Highlight a form of radical feminism

Page 17: Reproductive justice or applying a social justice lens to sexual, reproductive and maternal health and rights

Questions from the RJ movement• Has tended to take insufficient account of issues of sexuality, of (dis)ability, and of class• Tension about the types and scope of actions that need to be taken• Difficult to renew the leadership within the movement• It stays difficult for organizations of Indigenous women/women of colour to make their

voices heard and to be considered within mainstream feminist organizations.• Financing is difficult to obtain. Racism and quantifiable goals. • The organisations in the US that are registered as charities cannot devote more than

20% of their activities to political lobbying • National conferences

Page 18: Reproductive justice or applying a social justice lens to sexual, reproductive and maternal health and rights

Complementary approaches

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In Canada and Québec?• First Nation, Inuit and Metis (FNIM) organizing• Student-led groups & initiatives• Organizing by primarily pro-choice associated groups• Independent initiatives

There is not a strong organised reproductive justice movement in Canada

In the last couple of years, there has been a rise in popularity of the term ‘reproductive justice’. This increased use raises serious questions and tensions about its application and appropriation

Page 20: Reproductive justice or applying a social justice lens to sexual, reproductive and maternal health and rights

Reproductive justice and the FQPN ?

From the needs of all womenQuestion its roleBe non-exclusiveRethink alliancesQuestion the use of the termA Step Toward Reproductive Justice

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“Reproductive justice is the complete physical, mental, spiritual, political, economic, and social well-being of women and girls, and will be achieved when women and girls have the economic, social and political power and resources to make healthy decisions about their bodies, sexuality and reproduction for themselves, their families and their communities, in all areas of their lives.” (ACRJ. 2005)