This is America: Reproductive justice has roots in communities of color. It's time we honor it's history.

Christine Fernando, USA TODAY
·3 min read
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In a Chicago hotel room in 1994, the debate over abortion access in the U.S. was changed forever.

There, 12 Black women gathered to create the reproductive justice framework, which formed the bedrock of a movement rapidly gaining momentum today.

Those women were Toni M. Bond Leonard, Alma Crawford, Evelyn S. Field, Terri James, Bisola Marignay, Cassandra McConnell, Cynthia Newbille, Loretta Ross, Elizabeth Terry, ‘Able’ Mable Thomas, Winnette P. Willis, and Kim Youngblood. And they called themselves the Women of African Descent for Reproductive Justice.

Happy Women's History Month! My name is Christine Fernando, and I'm a breaking news reporter covering abortion and reproductive rights at USA TODAY. I’d like to welcome you to this week’s "This Is America."

Loretta Ross has been a reproductive justice activist for 50 years. She was one of the 12 Black women activists who coined the "reproductive justice." She co-founded the multiracial reproductive justice organization SisterSong and was named a MacArthur fellow in 2022.
Loretta Ross has been a reproductive justice activist for 50 years. She was one of the 12 Black women activists who coined the "reproductive justice." She co-founded the multiracial reproductive justice organization SisterSong and was named a MacArthur fellow in 2022.

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What are the principles of reproductive justice?

For years, Marsha Jones, executive director of the Afiya Center, a Texas-based reproductive justice organization, has had an Audre Lorde quote as her email signature.

"There is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives," the quote reads.

Jones said it sums up the approach of the reproductive justice framework.

Melding human rights and social justice, reproductive justice was a reaction to criticism that the reproductive rights movement was dominated by wealthy and middle class white women, who often ignored the intersectionality of people's identities and struggles against various forms of marginalization, including sexism, racism, queerphobia, and economic injustice.

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Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong, a multiracial reproductive justice organization, poses for a photo. Simpson said, unlike the more mainstream phrase “reproductive rights,” the reproductive justice framework goes beyond abortion access.
Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong, a multiracial reproductive justice organization, poses for a photo. Simpson said, unlike the more mainstream phrase “reproductive rights,” the reproductive justice framework goes beyond abortion access.

As a result, the framework, hinging on the human right "to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities," takes a more intersectional approach, said Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, a multiracial reproductive justice organization.

"We can't organize just around single issues," Simpson said. "Our silos are not going to save us."

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'Following in the footsteps'

Growing up in a school system that rarely acknowledged the history and contributions of communities of color to the fabric of our nation, I've always been hungry to learn more about these often overlooked stories.

Some of the stories I love most are ones that tie our history to our present, that show an intergenerational passing on of knowledge, and depict new generations building on the legacies of those before them. This is one of those stories.

Lupe Rodriguez, executive director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, poses for a photo. Rodriguez said the mainstream reproductive rights movement focuses on the legal right to abortion, a narrower framework than reproductive justice.
Lupe Rodriguez, executive director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, poses for a photo. Rodriguez said the mainstream reproductive rights movement focuses on the legal right to abortion, a narrower framework than reproductive justice.

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Lupe Rodriguez, executive director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, said it is "powerful" for her to look back on the effect this framework has had in history.

"This generation of people working within the reproductive justice framework are definitely following in the footsteps and expanding the movement, growing it and really taking it into the future," she said.

Loretta Ross, one of the founders of reproductive justice, said the framework also built on Black feminist theory that came before them.

"We built upon a legacy more so than totally creating something out of whole cloth," she said. "The next generations are also building on that legacy.”

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Contact Christine Fernando at cfernando@usatoday.com or follow her on Twitter at @christinetfern.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Reproductive justice: History of fight for health care, abortion rights