Reproductive Justice


Community Commons is committed to acknowledging and sharing the Black history behind the reproductive justice movement, including naming and crediting the 12 founders: Toni M. Bond Leonard, Reverend Alma Crawford, Evelyn S. Field, Terri James, Bisola Marignay, Cassandra McConnell, Cynthia Newbille, Lorretta Ross, Elizabeth Terry, ‘Able’ Mable Thomas, Winnette P. Willis, and Kim Youngblood.


All people deserve full autonomy over their sexuality, gender, work, and reproduction. Reproductive justice—a framework created by activist Women of Color—addresses reproductive health through the lenses of race, gender, class, ability, nationality, orientation, socioeconomic status, legal status, and environment. Reproductive justice goes beyond reproductive rights by focusing on access to care, social contexts of health, and intersectional well-being outcomes. It includes the rights to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent children in safe, accessible, healthy, sustainable communities. Reproductive justice is achieved when marginalized people—especially women, girls, and people who are LGBTQ+, disabled, low-income, undocumented, and/or of color—are able to freely and equitably exercise these rights.


The term “reproductive justice” was coined in 1994 by Women of African Descent for Reproductive Justice for the purpose of combining reproductive rights with social justice, and lifting up the marginalized individuals, families, and communities excluded by the early reproductive rights movement. This included—and still includes today—acknowledging and addressing the United States’ long legacies of reproductive abuses, beginning with abuses of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. BIPOC communities have been systemically robbed of their bodily and reproductive autonomy through histories of slavery, rape, displacement and land theft, as well as theft of children by social services and boarding schools. The U.S. has conducted and supported the forced and coerced sterilizations of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, LGBTQ+, disabled, migrant, and incarcerated people. This includes historic mass sterilizations of African Americans in the mid-1900s, up to 25% of Native American women during the 1970’s, up to 33% of Puerto Rican women in the 1960’s, and over 70,000 disabled people since 1927. At the same time, other populations—such as white women—have experienced the opposite: providers’ reluctance or refusal to provide birth control. LGBTQ+ and disabled people have been subject to eugenicist practices of erasure, legal barriers to bodily autonomy and raising children, and systemic exclusion from basic sexual and reproductive healthcare.


These legacies of systemic abuse have given rise to extreme health disparities, as well as rampant mistrust in U.S. healthcare and social services systems. As we approach the historic 50-year anniversary of Roe v. Wade (January 22, 2023), basic reproductive rights—access to contraception, birth control, pregnancy termination, and transgender healthcare—are still deeply entrenched in politicized debate. Across the U.S., Black maternal and infant health continues to be a significant area of concern (Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women). The nonconsensual sterilization of disabled people is still legal today in most states, while many people seeking hysterectomies are still denied due to ageist and sexist beliefs about preserving fertility. Transgender and nonbinary people are still required to show proof of surgery (often involving sterilization) in many states. Intersex people are still forced to endure non-consensual, forced gender reassignement surgery, often as children or infants. The United States’ entire economy still relies heavily on the free labor of women and LGBTQ+ people to raise children, maintain homes, and support family life. The reproductive justice movement offers a critical framework to explain the interrelation of inequities and chart a path towards individuals’ full bodily autonomy, healthy families, and thriving communities.


Achieving reproductive justice requires deep acknowledgement, evaluation, and disassembling of the oppressive systems perpetuating exploitation and abuse. Across the U.S., activists can push for all peoples’ rights to full autonomy over their bodies, sexuality, gender, work, and reproduction, including the decision to have children or not have children, and parent children in safe, sustainable communities. Changemakers and communities can work to address legacies of injustice, improve access to basic reproductive healthcare for all people, eliminate disparities in maternal and infant care, ban coerced sterilization, support informed choices about consensual sterilization, improve family planning and social services, and end violence and abuse. Organizations and individuals can take a first step by centering those who have been historically marginalized and excluded from reproductive rights and health.


Learn about Taking Action for Reproductive Justice or explore the resources below.

Resources & Tools


Colorful compilation of photos of Black people
Centering Black Voices
Story - Original
Brought to you by Community Commons
Photo of a distressed young person, presumably a teenager, looking at a positive pregnancy test
Teen Pregnancy in New Mexico
Story - Original
Brought to you by Community Commons
Published on 03/01/2017
Screen shot of Please Don't Edit Me Out article
Please Don’t Edit Me Out
Story - Written
Brought to you by WaPo
Picture of a Black mother playing with her child
Bearing the Burden: How racism-related stress hurts America’s black mothers and babies
Story - Original
Brought to you by Community Commons
Published on 10/02/2018
Screen Capture of If Only Everyone Had a Postpartum Doula
If Only Everyone Had a Postpartum Doula
Story - Written
Brought to you by NYT
Illustrations of women, parents, families, and queer people representing the many aspects of reproductive justice
Taking Action for Reproductive Justice: Our Favorite Tools, Resources, and Data
Story - Original
Brought to you by Community Commons
Lego people in progress pride flag colors
Counting All in Our Communities: Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Data
Story - Original
Brought to you by Community Commons
Screen shot of cover of story: The Racist History of Abortion and Midwifery Bans
The Racist History of Abortion and Midwifery Bans
Story - Written
Brought to you by ACLU
Screen capture of Supporting Mothers and Families: A Global Conversation on Pregnancy, Birth, and Early Childhood blog post
Supporting Mothers and Families: A Global Conversation on Pregnancy, Birth, and Early Childhood
Resource - Blog
Brought to you by U.S. General Services Administration
PDF Cover: Reasons for Rejecting Hormonal Contraception in Western Countries: A Systematic Review
Reasons for Rejecting Hormonal Contraception in Western Countries: A Systematic Review
Resource - Journal Article
Brought to you by Elsevier, Inc.
PDF Cover: My Body, Whose Choice? A Call to Advance Reproductive Justice in Pediatric Training
“My Body, Whose Choice?” A Call to Advance Reproductive Justice in Pediatric Training
Resource - Journal Article
Brought to you by American Academy of Pediatrics
PDF Cover: Queer Reproductive Justice
Queer Reproductive Justice?
Resource - Journal Article
Brought to you by Elsevier, Inc.
Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC)
Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC)
Resource - Website/webpage
Brought to you by ACOG
PDF Cover: Forced Sterilization of Disabled People in the United States
Forced Sterilization of Disabled People in the United States
Resource - Report
Brought to you by National Women's Law Center
Cover page of Reproductive and Child Health Data Report – January 2020
Reproductive and Child Health Data Report
Resource - Report
Brought to you by North Sound ACH
PDF Cover Page: Cross-State Travel For Abortion Care
Cross-State Travel for Abortion Care
Resource - Journal Article
Brought to you by Elsevier, Inc.
PDF Cover Page: Financial Instability and Delays in Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Care Due to Covid-19
Financial Instability and Delays in Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Care Due to COVID-19
Resource - Journal Article
Brought to you by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
Screen grab of Maternal and Child Health Digital Library
Maternal and Child Health Digital Library
Resource - Data Bank/repository
Brought to you by HHS Health Resources and Services Administration
PDF Article Cover: Provider Bias In Contraceptive Counseling
Provider Bias in Contraceptive Counseling
Resource - Journal Article
Screen shot of blog photo: Reproductive Justice: Voices Not Just Choices
Reproductive Justice: Voices Not Just Choices
Resource - Blog
Brought to you by University of Alabama at Birmingham
First page of Judaism and Abortion
Judaism and Abortion
Resource - Fact Sheet
First page of Cautions About Medicalized Dehumanization
Cautions About Medicalized Dehumanization
Resource - Journal Article
Brought to you by AMA
Screen shot of highlights section: Reproductive Health
Reproductive Health
Resource - Data Bank/repository
Brought to you by CMS
Screen shot of tool map: What if Roe Fell?
What If Roe Fell?
Tool - Data/mapping Tool
Screen shot of tool map: Reproductive Rights
Reproductive Rights
Tool - Data/mapping Tool
Screen shot of Data Center cover page: Guttmacer Institute Data Center
Guttmacher Institute Data Center
Tool - Data/mapping Tool
Screenshot of the front page of Contraceptive Deserts
Contraceptive Deserts
Tool - Data/mapping Tool
Screen capture of Snapshot: LGBTQ Equality by State webpage
Snapshot: LGBTQ Equality by State
Tool - Data/mapping Tool
Screenshot of cover logo: American Values Atlas
American Values Atlas
Tool - Data/mapping Tool
Screen shot of mapping tool cover: Status of Women in the States
Status of Women in the States
Tool - Data/mapping Tool

Data & Metrics


Collage of images of LGBTQ+ people with transparent overlays in progress pride flag colors. At the top, bold white text on a charcoal background reads
LGBTQ+ Health Equity Library
Library
Published on 03/01/2022
Banner graphic reads
Accessibility and Disability Equity Library
Library
Published on 09/01/2022
Collage of photos of people of color with warm purple and orange overlays. White writing across the top reads
Racial Justice Journey Library
Library
Published on 02/22/2022
Hero image of Public Health and Equity Resource Navigator
Public Health and Equity Resource Navigator
Library
Published on 10/22/2021

 Related Topics


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Transgender and Nonbinary People

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Racial Justice

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Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

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Hispanic and Latinx People

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Native Americans and First Nations

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Black and African Americans

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Indigenous Knowledge

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Sexual and Reproductive Health

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LGBTQ+ People

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Maternal and Infant Health

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Women and Girls