30 years of fighting for justice: Black women lead the charge for equitable reproductive rights in a post-Roe America.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the reproductive justice movement. And just like Black women were leading then, they’re leading the movement now.
Like many social justice movements, people of color, and specifically Black women, have led and borne the brunt of the labor and danger associated with fighting against the status quo.
Today, Black reproductive justice leaders remain at the frontlines of the fight to ensure abortion access, and equitable and accessible reproductive health to their communities.
The framework to push the movement to a focus beyond abortion and contraception was laid out by SisterSong in 1994, defining reproductive justice as a human right to maintain bodily autonomy, to choose if, when and how to have children, and the right to parent those children in safe and sustainable communities.
“It’s about liberation,” SisterSong executive director Monica Simpson told Time in 2019. “And it’s about dismantling systems of oppression that make our lives hard in this country but also that make it impossible for us to have the access and the choices that we want to have.”
This movement, birthed by Black individuals, continues to mobilize to counter the attacks on abortion access and equitable sexual and reproductive health for birthing people and families. Reproductive justice intends to ensure the rights to more than what Roe protected – examining these issues from an all-encompassing human rights lens.
“For Black women, and women of color in particular, that legal protection was, and still is, only one piece. Now, of course, it’s always jolting and devastating to have that taken away,” said Regina Davis Moss, president and CEO of In Our Own Voice. “Roe represented the floor, not the ceiling.”
We’re highlighting 5 of today’s Black reproductive justice leaders and what they think is next in reproductive rights.
As reproductive justice celebrates an anniversary this year, so does In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda, the national-state partnership of eight Black women-led reproductive justice organizations focused on policy change. This marks 10 years of uplifting Black women leaders, and delivering proactive advocacy policy solutions to secure reproductive justice for women, girls, and gender-expansive folks.
In September, Davis Moss and In Our Own Voice published Black Women’s Reproductive Health and Sexuality: A Holistic Public Health Approach, a book that joins the perspectives of researchers, health providers, and community leaders to identify and call for transformation of the disruptors to Black women’s reproductive health.
“Black Women’s Reproductive Health and Sexuality is an important step toward critically examining the multi-faceted systems driving Black women’s health outcomes, and a reminder that we cannot ignore any aspect of our health and well-being. Ultimately it is up to us to create the changes we need, and we have the power to make our holistic vision of Black women’s health and well-being a reality,” Davis Moss said in a September press release.
Laws protecting abortion rights have been a heavy focus to combat the constitutional protection lost when Roe fell, but Davis Moss stresses the importance of these laws being equitable and accessible.
“I’ve consistently said, having the right doesn’t mean that it’s just. You can have a law, but the law must be just and without access, abortion rights are not just, so that is what my focus is and that is what I think the next step should be,” she said.
Beulah Osueke joined New Voices for Reproductive Justice in 2019, an Ohio and Pennsylvania-based organization dedicated to working towards reproductive justice for Black women, girls, femmes and gender-expansive individuals. She held multiple roles, including interim executive director for 6 months, and was officially named executive director in January.
“We are in a pivotal moment for Black women, girls and gender expansive individuals, as new attacks on our bodily autonomy are emerging every day, but Beulah is an effective and trusted leader that works persistently, and against all odds,” said Davis Moss.
As the reproductive justice framework shifted the movement beyond abortion rights, Osueke says that it’s important to approach reproductive care holistically, encompassing all the disparities that can impact one’s health.
“Transformative reproductive care is culturally relevant and responsive. It focuses on bodily autonomy and ensuring that birthing people understand all of their options, regardless of race, class, location, etc.” Osueke told Reckon, adding that it goes beyond birth, and includes postnatal, mental health, abortion, trauma-informed medical wellness staff and more to impact the totality of a person’s wellness.
Jennifer Driver is the senior director of reproductive rights at State Innovation Exchange (SiX), where she supports a network of state legislators committed to fighting abortion bans and pushing for laws that protect abortion access.
Driver previously served as the vice president of policy and strategic partnerships at SIECUS and worked at Welcoming America, focusing on the intersection of immigration, racism, education, health, and policy. Driver says it’s important to recognize that these fights – those of legislators and those of Black and brown communities – are connected, and one win cannot come at the expense of another.
“There are over 7,000 state legislators in this country. Many receive support when running but there is no playbook once you assume your position,” Driver said in the Newsette this month. “That’s where SiX comes in – as a trusted resource for state legislators as they fight back against legislation that restricts our freedoms.”
She told Reckon that beyond quipping legislators to fight for reproductive freedom, SiX is also working to support the work of legislators of color “who are often overlooked as they fight for their communities to have meaningful access to care.”
As for the next phase in reproductive rights, Driver said, “Our goal is to build beyond what we experienced. We are not building to return to the bare minimum that was provided under Roe. We believe that communities can and should have what they need to thrive. We are working to shift power in states, so that no matter your finances, education, zip code, you have your full inalienable rights recognized.”
Nourbese Flint is the president of All* Above All and former senior director of Black leadership and engagement at Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Under her leadership, the organization recently launched the All Action PAC, a political action committee led by women of color and focused on electing candidates who champion for abortion justice.
Their current work includes advocating for Abortion Justice Act and the EACH Act, legislation that breaks down barriers to abortion, and calling on President Biden to remove the Hyde Amendment, which withholds Medicaid from covering most abortions, from his presidential budget.
“We’re doing the nuts and bolts work of working with our communities, fighting in the halls of Congress, focusing on political education and GOTV work, and making sure we’re holding community and doing everything possible so that our communities can thrive,” said Flint.
She says helping voters of color build political power is essential to ensuring they are not left out of the political system and have the tools to advocate for themselves as the U.S. reaches a monumental moment in the history of abortion access.
“With almost 20 states that have all but banned abortion, disproportionately impacting Black and Brown communities, people are being robbed of their freedom, their health, sometimes their fertility, and sometimes their very lives,” she said, pointing out the two Supreme Court decisions that could further decimate the landscape abortion this year. “It is deeply important that we lean into being bold, courageous, and unrelenting in our fight for our ability to control our bodies and our futures.”
Dázon Dixon Diallo is a founding member of SisterSong, and founded SisterLove in 1989, creating the first women’s HIV, sexual and reproductive justice organization in the southeastern United States (which also operates in South Africa). Diallo created the “Healthy Love” prevention intervention framework, recognized by the CDC as a best practices model for HIV protection, which focuses on Black women, eroticizes safer sex and provides a safe space to connect around sexuality without shame or stigma.
On Thursday, SisterLove hosted a Reproductive Justice Advocacy Day in Georgia, immersing local constituents in the legislation process. The group selected several bills that focused on Black maternal health, LGBTQ+ rights and comprehensive sex ed, then went to the Capitol and called on their legislators in their districts to tell them what issues matter to them. A bill centering Black maternal health also passed during their panel, so the group got to witness the fruits of their labor.
Grabiela D. Hernandez, If/When/How Reproductive Justice Legal HIV Fellow at SisterLove spoke with Reckon about the significance of this event’s theme “Black Women are Leading While Losing, It’s Accountability Time!”
“Black women are leading,” said Hernandez, pointing out the need to address multiple layers. “In Georgia, Black women are leading, and yet when it comes to maternal health, they have the worst disparities, when it comes to reproductive healthcare they have the worst disparities. When it comes to chronic health conditions, reproductive cancers, and access to adequate healthcare, when it comes to maternal health care deserts.”
Black women are heavily impacted by the country’s current abortion bans, and the majority of Black Americans live in Southern states, which tend to have harsher bans than other parts of the country. Additionally, Black birthing people experience the highest rates of highest rates of maternal mortality, and are almost three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than their white counterparts.
Hernandez says that historically Black women and people of color have been left out of empirical studies that inform policies and SisterLove wants to combat these implicit biases in the healthcare system by gathering their own information.
“Moving forward, I would say that we want to focus on data,” said Hernandez. “We want to really drive that home so that we do have this evidence to bring to legislatures and say hey systemic racism, it exists and that is a very big factor and a driving factor to these outcomes.”
Equity Forward is also focused on gathering research, according to director Ashley Underwood. Most recently, they focused on the expansion of publicly funded anti-abortion centers – also known as crisis pregnancy centers – examining the organizations and policymakers that support them.
“In 2024, we are looking forward to further telling the story of the impact they have on people seeking abortion care and how detrimental their agenda is to us all,” said Underwood. “Opposition research has really had its moment to shine recently. It’s the slower-paced side of advocacy that plays an integral role in our work in the sexual and reproductive health and justice movements.”
The current reproductive leaders are working to not only push forward abortion policy, but are also helping their communities mobilize now, and for future generations to come.
“As a mom, it’s up to me to carry that torch lit by so many Black women and leaders before me to create the world I want to see for my son so he can carry that torch forward,” said Flint.