Editors’ Note

Dear Readers,

Happy New Year! Here's to advancing the movements for reproductive rights, health, and justice in 2022!

In this issue, you will find Meredith Abdelnour's review of the book Reproductive Justice: An Introduction by Loretta Ross and Rickie Solinger. This review was planned to coincide with Ross's visit to Tulane this month as the 10th annual Roe v. Wade speaker. However, due to the current COVID-19 surge, we have rescheduled this event for March 5. See below for details.

Below, you will also find, among other things, a series of op-ed responses to the Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court arguments last month. These pieces help to expose some of the faulty logic exhibited on December 1, as well as some of the misrepresentations of who gets abortions and why.

See below for many other announcements, news items, and opportunities!

Sincerely,

Kelsey Lain, School of Science and Engineering, Class of 2023
Clare Daniel, Ph.D., Newcomb Institute, Tulane University
Aliyah Daniels, ReproNews co-founder, Class of 2018

Reproductive Justice is Essential Reading 
Meredith Abdelnour, School of Liberal Arts '23

In Reproductive Justice: An Introduction, Loretta Ross and Rickie Solinger delve into all aspects of reproductive justice, including the history, current state of the movement, fertility, and the right to parent, as well as what reproductive justice activism looks like on the ground right now. Ross has firsthand experience with reproductive justice activism and Solinger is a historian of reproductive politics; together they have crafted a well-researched, intersectional text which explains the reproductive justice framework and keeps marginalized people at its center. 

 Reproductive justice has three major values: “(1) the right not to have a child; (2) the right to have a child; and (3) the right to parent children in safe and healthy environments” (Ross, 65). The book discusses how the reproductive justice movement is separate from the pro-choice movement, working neither with nor against it, as reproductive justice reframes and expands upon the single-issue approach of the pro-choice movement. This lens highlights intersectionality, universality, and a holistic approach, with the ultimate goal of “[enhancing] the health, social well-being, and bodily integrity of all contraceptive clients” (Ross, 158).  

To be involved with the reproductive justice movement, it is essential to have a comprehensive understanding of the history, which is steeped in racism, slavery, colonization, and white nationalism, all of which created a hostile environment for those making reproductive choices. Learning about reproductive history also shows the facets of white supremacy that remain embedded into legislation and policy. Women of color were often pressured into sterilizations. Bills such as the Hyde amendment were created specifically to target women without private insurance. Eugenics lives on through low-income women of color being offered cash incentives for using long-acting reversible contraceptives.  

One of the major tenets of reproductive justice is evaluating how other human rights issues intersect with the movement. The anti-poverty agenda, for example, needs to also include reproductive resources. Environmental justice is crucial to understanding how low-income children are more vulnerable to disability due to environmental pollutants. Incarcerated women aren’t given adequate medical care and are sometimes even shackled during the birthing process, even in states where it is illegal. Even the concept of who is “allowed” to be a mother is often dependent on race, socioeconomic status, and respectability politics.  

 The book explores common misconceptions in the larger reproductive choice movement, including the idea that every unplanned pregnancy is unwanted, that motherhood is an individual experience, and that the “choice” to have an abortion or give birth is an independent decision free from social, economic, and political pressures. The book also explores the positive consequences of reproductive justice from different perspectives, such as examining the economic and social repercussions. There are severe consequences when women do not get the reproductive care they deserve, as evidenced by Oklahoma, which has the highest number of abortion restrictions and is the worst state for children and women’s wellbeing. Investing just one dollar in contraceptive strategies is proven to save more than five dollars in Medicare costs (Ross, 152).   

Reproductive Justice: An Introduction is essential reading for anyone working in the reproductive landscape or looking to learn more about this concept. With accessible language, a variety of examples, and in-depth explorations of different theories, this text has resources for everyone, whether you are experienced in this field or just getting started.  

Spring Course: INTU 6850 Reproductive Rights, Law, and Policy (1 credit)
Tuesdays from 6 to 8pm, 2/22 – 4/26
Prof. Ellie Schilling
For questions or register, email Clare Daniel (cdaniel5@tulane.edu)

"This course will focus on the 2022 Louisiana Legislative Session as a means of understanding the legislative process, civic engagement with that process, and policy and legal concerns that proposed legislation can raise – all within the context of understanding the legal framework surrounding abortion access and reproductive rights. The course will include legal and policy analysis of the most significant U.S. Supreme Court cases involving abortion rights, as well as an overview of the statutory and regulatory landscape applicable to abortion in Louisiana.  With that backdrop, the course will then take a hands-on approach to the Louisiana Legislative Session, focusing on proposed bills that will impact reproductive justice.  Guest speakers will help students to understand the policy implications – both intended and unintended – related to the proposed bills, as well as other legislation proposed or passed during recent legislative sessions.  Each student will select one proposed bill, and learn how to draft messaging guidance, draft and coordinate testimony for the legislative committee hearings, and how to assess the policy implications and likelihood of success in a subsequent legal challenge.  Students will draft a research paper incorporating those elements. For the final project, students will have the opportunity to draft their own proposed legislation, which will be incorporated in a research paper that examines the policy considerations related to their bill and why they think the bill would withstand judicial scrutiny. If scheduling allows, students will be able to attend a committee hearing at the Legislature regarding one of the proposed bills, and see the legislative and advocacy process in action.

Ellie Schilling is a chief litigator of reproductive rights cases in the state of Louisiana a partner at Schonekas, Evans, McGoey, & McEachin, LLC. She is also an alumna of Tulane Law School."

Children's hospitals across the US reporting pandemic-high hospitalizations, WDSU News, January 4, 2022

Cash assistance for Louisiana families will increase in 2022 for 1st time in decades, WWNO, January 4, 2022

How Louisiana's 5 largest districts are handling back-to-school amid omicron surge, WWNO, January 4, 2022

Louisiana to be directly impacted by Supreme Court's decision on MS abortion law, WDSU News, December 1, 2022
 

National and International

Rest in Power: Sarah Weddington, Feminist Attorney and Champion of Roe v. Wade, Ms. Magazine, January 3, 2022

El Salvador Releases 3 Women Serving Long Prison Sentences for Abortions, New York Times, December 25, 2021

A Plan Forms in Mexico: Help Americans Get Abortions, New York Times, December 20, 2021

F.D.A. Will Permanently Allow Abortion Pills by Mail, New York Times, December 16, 2021

What We Get Wrong About Adoption, The Nation, December 7, 2021

Mississippi is wrong. Even with birth control, abortion access is necessary., The Washington Post, December 7, 2021

Homicide is a leading cause of death in pregnant people, a new study finds. Black women are at greatest risk., The Lily, December 6, 2021

Amy Coney Barrett’s Adoption Myths, Intelligencer, December 3, 2021

I was adopted. I know the trauma it can inflict, New York Times, December 3, 2021

Barrett is wrong: Adoption doesn't "take care of" the burden of motherhood, The Washington Post, December 3, 2021

I Was Raped by My Father. An Abortion Saved My Life., New York Times, November 30, 2021

ProFrequency
Creative Community League
10am CST, Thursday

"Produced and hosted by Amy Irvin, ProFrequency is a weekly radio program that covers culture, reproductive and sexual health, and other feminist issues, utilizing recorded stories and live interviews with local advocates and artists. Co-host Amanda Sanfilippo (aka Dj Vjj) is a local sex educator who answers all your most burning sexual health questions. Join Creative Community League for ProFrequency at 10am CT on Thursdays on 102.3 WHIV FM New Orleans. Or stream it from https://whivfm.org/listen. For further info, follow the CCL on Instagram at @creativecommunityleague"

RESCHEDULED: Conceiving Equity, feat. the 10th annual Roe v. Wade lecture by Loretta Ross
Newcomb Institute, Tulane University
6 to 8pm CST, March 5, 2022

6 - 7pm: Reception and exhibit of poster presentations by Newcomb Institute’s Reproductive Rights and Reproductive Health interns, as well as advocacy activities provided by Tulane’s many reproductive rights/health/justice student organizations.

7 - 8pm: Loretta Ross, Associate Professor of the Study of Women and Gender at Smith College, will deliver the 10th annual Roe v. Wade Lecture, “Reproductive Justice: Human Rights for the 21st Century.”

Loretta J. Ross is an Associate Professor at Smith College. She is an activist, public intellectual, and a scholar. Her passion is in innovating creative imagining about global human rights and social justice issues. As the third director of the first rape crisis center in the country in the 1970s, she helped launch the movement to end violence against women that has evolved into today's #MeToo movement. She also founded the first center in the U.S. to innovate creative human rights education for all students so that social justice issues are more collaborative and less divisive. She has also deprogrammed members of hate groups leading to conceptualizing and writing the first book on "Calling In the Calling Out Culture" to transform how people can overcome political differences to use empathy and respect to guide difficult conversations. Her most recent books are Reproductive Justice: An Introduction, co-written with Rickie Solinger, and Radical Reproductive Justice: Foundations, Theory, Practice, Critique. She has been quoted in the New York Times, Time Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post, among others.