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Reproductive Justice: A New Vision for the Twenty-First Century
Reproductive Justice: An Introduction
Reproductive Justice is a first-of-its-kind primer that provides a comprehensive yet succinct description of the field. Written by two legendary scholar-activists, Reproductive Justice introduces students to an intersectional analysis of race, class, and gender politics. Loretta J. Ross and Rickie Solinger put the lives and lived experience of women of color at the center of the book and use a human rights analysis to show how the discussion around reproductive justice differs significantly from the pro-choice/anti-abortion debates that have long dominated the headlines and mainstream political conflict. Arguing that reproductive justice is a political movement of reproductive rights and social justice, the authors illuminate, for example, the complex web of structural obstacles a low-income, physically disabled woman living in West Texas faces as she contemplates her sexual and reproductive intentions. In a period in which women’s reproductive lives are imperiled, Reproductive Justice provides an essential guide to understanding and mobilizing around women’s human rights in the twenty-first century.
Reproductive Justice: A New Vision for the Twenty-First Century publishes works that explore the contours and content of reproductive justice. The series will include primers intended for students and those new to reproductive justice as well as books of original research that will further knowledge and impact society. Learn more at www.ucpress.edu/go/reproductivejustice.
Reproductive Justice: A New Vision for the Twenty-First Century publishes works that explore the contours and content of reproductive justice. The series will include primers intended for students and those new to reproductive justice as well as books of original research that will further knowledge and impact society. Learn more at www.ucpress.edu/go/reproductivejustice.
362 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2017
About the author
Loretta J. Ross
11 books123 followersLoretta J. Ross is a Visiting Professor of Practice in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University teaching "Reproductive Justice Theory and Practice" and "Race and Culture in the U.S." for the 2018-2019 academic year. Previously, she was a Visiting Professor at Hampshire College in Women's Studies for the 2017-2018 academic year teaching "White Supremacy in the Age of Trump." She was a co-founder and the National Coordinator of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective from 2005-2012, a network founded in 1997 of women of color and allied organizations that organize women of color in the reproductive justice movement. She is one of the creators of the term "Reproductive Justice" coined by African American women in 1994 that has transformed reproductive politics in the U.S.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
March 8, 2021
How does one review a manifesto?
All I can be is grateful to learn and to have been radically mothered by this primer of reproductive justice. All I can do is my best to uphold and recognize the rights of my future patients — to have a child, to not have a child, to parent children in safe and healthy environments, to have sexual autonomy and gender freedom. It is my privilege and my duty.
All I can be is grateful to learn and to have been radically mothered by this primer of reproductive justice. All I can do is my best to uphold and recognize the rights of my future patients — to have a child, to not have a child, to parent children in safe and healthy environments, to have sexual autonomy and gender freedom. It is my privilege and my duty.
May 23, 2017
It is exactly what it says it is: an introduction to reproductive justice. And in that vein, it's like any intro book: tries to cover as much as possible, but it doesn't give a ton of depth. It's very dense: because they have to cover as much as possible, each page is packed. But you could get many many dissertations out of expounding on the stories and issues in this book.
As a couple sentence intro: Reproductive justice is the larger umbrella over reproductive rights. It entails 1) the right to have a child, 2) the right not to have a child, 3) the right to parent children in healthy, safe, thriving environments. As you can imagine, that means a lot: abortion, adoption, access to quality prenatal care, postnatal care, clean water, the school-to-prison pipeline, fertility treatments, sterilization, the drug war, etc.
This is a very good introduction to reproductive justice, very recommended for anyone interested. Would also make a great book for use in college courses. You have to be ok with density- it is not a breezy read.
As a couple sentence intro: Reproductive justice is the larger umbrella over reproductive rights. It entails 1) the right to have a child, 2) the right not to have a child, 3) the right to parent children in healthy, safe, thriving environments. As you can imagine, that means a lot: abortion, adoption, access to quality prenatal care, postnatal care, clean water, the school-to-prison pipeline, fertility treatments, sterilization, the drug war, etc.
This is a very good introduction to reproductive justice, very recommended for anyone interested. Would also make a great book for use in college courses. You have to be ok with density- it is not a breezy read.
April 12, 2018
Reproductive Justice as a concept has been around since 1994, but I only heard it a few years ago. Since then I've seen several debates about what it means and who should have the right to use it. But that's beside the point -- read this book. The concept takes the rhetoric of "choice" and exposes how narrow it is, how it may work for white women of a certain income, but for lots of folks there's a whole lot more going on than whether they individualistically need or want to terminate a pregnancy. Reproductive justice is much more holistic, taking into account people's varying histories and communities, and all of the factors in place that go into whether someone can have a child, not have a child, and raise children in safety and dignity. It's all connected.
August 18, 2022
Let‘s just say the timing was right to crack this open. A critically informative read removed from a purely pro-life/pro-choice dichotomy, Loretta Ross instead reframes women‘s reproductive rights within a human rights framework, a radical re-contextualization that demands not only reproductive health but a total reworking of all social determinants that plague, especially, poor women of color. Something is not a right if not ALL women have access to it.
March 29, 2018
This book. Anyone interested in women. The body. Politics. History. Reproduction. Justice. Racism. Classism. Movements. Feminism. Read this book! I had the honor of working briefly with Loretta Ross with the 2004 March for Women’s Lives when I was with NOW. Her voice, leadership, and work with SisterSong inspire me to be a better teacher, activist and ally. I know Rickie Solinger’s work academically. Together they have created an amazing work of truth and justice. A must read!
March 13, 2021
Interesting and informative. Gives a fantastic picture of reproductive justice and how it ties to every area of our lives. Gave it 3 stars because while some parts were really interesting, there was a lot that felt repetitive from the first few chapters. It was also heavy on the research/stats - some more anecdotal evidence would have been helpful to digest.
January 31, 2019
Eye opening!
April 6, 2019
This was a very good introduction to reproductive justice as a framework and a movement. It explains in full the history of reproductive justice and violence in the United States, following how the concept of pure white womanhood fueled the policies and ideologies that oppressed those who deviated from that ideal due to their race, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability, nation of origin and religion. Throughout this book, Ross and Solinger reiterate how the past led up to certain, modern policies. This is a big help to the reader who is new to the topic.
August 9, 2019
A super informative and comprehensive introduction to the subject of reproductive justice, a coin termed in 1994 by Black women to emphasize the need to intersect reproductive health issues with social justice issues. Reproductive justice goes beyond the pro-life/pro-choice debate to insist that reproductive health is more than just the right to have an abortion and the right to afforable, accessible contraception. To be able to make choices surrounding childbirth and motherhood, people need (and have a right to) access to a living wage, good schools, safe and healthy environments, and high-quality, affordable medical care, as well as relief from other issues that threaten communities, such as police violence, homophobia and gender-based violence, and systemic racism that creates policies to limit and control peoples’ reproductive decisions.
This book was written as an introduction for new audiences. It covers a large swath of issues that RJ seeks to address and it does so in a clear and direct manner. Some of the subsections that presented new issues were brief and clearly served as introductions to list the complexity of the issues and the vast ways they intersect with RJ or are a part of the thesis of RJ. While these sections did not go in depth and felt like more of an outline of topics, they still provided a complex overview of the subject. Even the chapters that did bestow a large number of pages to the topic, such as the history chapter, could clearly be expanded on, each subject within capable of being its own book. Because I sometimes craved more information, I looked to the bibliography and notes sections to find the articles and books it drew from. I’m hoping to dive into some of these texts soon. As an introduction to the topic, however, this book does a phenomenal job.
Another aspect of this book worth noting is that it is academic, almost textbook-like at times, and does not tell a story (though it does draw from the lived experiences of individuals and lists examples of people and cases that have been affected by reproductive injustices). I am fascinated by this subject and did not mind this, but this isn’t a narrative nonfiction.
This book was written as an introduction for new audiences. It covers a large swath of issues that RJ seeks to address and it does so in a clear and direct manner. Some of the subsections that presented new issues were brief and clearly served as introductions to list the complexity of the issues and the vast ways they intersect with RJ or are a part of the thesis of RJ. While these sections did not go in depth and felt like more of an outline of topics, they still provided a complex overview of the subject. Even the chapters that did bestow a large number of pages to the topic, such as the history chapter, could clearly be expanded on, each subject within capable of being its own book. Because I sometimes craved more information, I looked to the bibliography and notes sections to find the articles and books it drew from. I’m hoping to dive into some of these texts soon. As an introduction to the topic, however, this book does a phenomenal job.
Another aspect of this book worth noting is that it is academic, almost textbook-like at times, and does not tell a story (though it does draw from the lived experiences of individuals and lists examples of people and cases that have been affected by reproductive injustices). I am fascinated by this subject and did not mind this, but this isn’t a narrative nonfiction.
September 30, 2022
Why does Reproductive Justice Matter? This accessible book goes into the history of the movement, birthed in 1994 by twelve Black women at a pro-choice conference in response to proposed Clinton health reform efforts. Narrow interest groups (white feminism) focus advocacy on abortion access but ignore broader, systemic issues impacting the right to choose—and reproduce and parent—with safety and dignity. Vectors of attack on reproductive rights—and more broadly, human rights—are enumerated, including ideologies of neoliberalism and methods of maintaining population control, with a primary interest of maintaining a “white nation” that can sustain healthy, ongoing profits for the corporate elite. Read this if you want to understand why Roe v. Wade came to be law and came to be dismantled and you now want to know how reproductive justice advocates envision the rights movement going forward.
January 31, 2018
Great book! This lays out why the American reproductive system isn’t as fair as mainstream news and history books make it out to be. Loretta Ross passionately tells the history of Black America and women left out of decisions, laws, legal decisions and even protests.
Rickie Solinger has been one of my favorite authors and historians on these issues and her collaboration in writing this book.
This book tells history with a new and broader view than most folks have heard it. I am using this as a text in a course I teach this semester.
I urge you to read it.
Rickie Solinger has been one of my favorite authors and historians on these issues and her collaboration in writing this book.
This book tells history with a new and broader view than most folks have heard it. I am using this as a text in a course I teach this semester.
I urge you to read it.
February 8, 2022
I ACTUALLY enjoyed this one!! AND I had to read numerous chapters so I don't feel as bad for counting it towards my Goodreads goal. Read a part of this gem for my Gender and Women Studies class and it was soooo nicely written and comprehensive and honestly just really enjoyable. I don't rate books I read for class, but if I were to rate this one I would probably give it 4 stars, which is pretty good considering I rarely give books 5 stars.
Okay I am just gonna rate it.
Okay I am just gonna rate it.
September 1, 2021
I don't know if it's just been a long time since I've read an academic book, but this one was really tough to get through. It's a very important topic, and one I think more people should be educated on, but I feel like I could have gotten most of the relevant info from a shorter academic paper.
November 24, 2020
A must-read! Everyone should be aware of the reproductive justice movement.
June 25, 2021
I read this for my Reproductive Justice class and really enjoyed it. I think everyone should read it once.
July 1, 2018
Started this book 06/11/18 ... doing a little research ...
Finished this book on 06/24/18
"Reproductive justice is not difficult to define or remember. It has three primary 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.
I highly recommend reading this book, especially in our current environment!
Finished this book on 06/24/18
"Reproductive justice is not difficult to define or remember. It has three primary 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.
I highly recommend reading this book, especially in our current environment!
July 15, 2022
I read this for a women’s study class. The authors did a great job linking modern day reproductive politics to historical events, all of which is rooted in white supremacy. They discussed events I hadn’t ever heard of before in ways I hadn’t thought of before. Topics included forced sterilization, ableism, eugenics, and abortion access. I have never considered white supremacy to be a modern issue, in fact I really did not fully understand what exactly it was or meant. But after reading this book, I am able to identify its presence in various institutions and better understand how it’s literally woven into the very fabric of our country. The authors focused a great deal on the role of race on reproductive rights, and how WOC could not, and still cannot, receive justice. White women advocating for their reproductive rights were only advocating for white rights, not the rights of ALL women. It is important to understand how history continues to play a role in not only our politics and rights, but our reproductive systems as well. This was a highly informative read and I would recommend it to anyone. I also just love Loretta Ross.
September 5, 2022
Reproductive Justice: An Introduction begins with a history of reproductive justice—or rather, our country’s lack of it. So most of the contents of Killing the Black Body were contained within this first section. The sacrifice of depth was worth the breadth, in my opinion.
For those unfamiliar, reproductive justice is the idea that any woman or fertile person has the human right not to bear children, to bear children, and to raise one’s children in a healthy and safe environment. That’s what the whole book—and movement—boils down to. It’s simple and should be obvious, but it is an enormous undertaking that requires an overhaul of our way of thinking about and supporting parenthood and fertility.
Thus, the book’s remaining sections are on reproductive justice in the twenty-first century (a history of the movement and introduction to key concepts), managing fertility (a large focus on abortion rights and the Hyde Amendment), and the right to parent, which really expands the focus to the safety of entire communities of color.
Read more:
For those unfamiliar, reproductive justice is the idea that any woman or fertile person has the human right not to bear children, to bear children, and to raise one’s children in a healthy and safe environment. That’s what the whole book—and movement—boils down to. It’s simple and should be obvious, but it is an enormous undertaking that requires an overhaul of our way of thinking about and supporting parenthood and fertility.
Thus, the book’s remaining sections are on reproductive justice in the twenty-first century (a history of the movement and introduction to key concepts), managing fertility (a large focus on abortion rights and the Hyde Amendment), and the right to parent, which really expands the focus to the safety of entire communities of color.
Read more:
February 10, 2020
There are 4 main sections: A Reproductive Justice History, RJ in the 21st Century, Managing Fertility, and RJ and the Right to Parent. All the sections were really insightful but fertility and parenting caught my attention the most. I will say that reading about the history behind contraceptives and who was/is encouraged and discouraged from having children was really eye-opening. I also think that when it came to the managing fertility section, I found the answer to many arguments people like to bring up. It’s important to acknowledge the coercive past of contraceptives and the current barriers in accessing them today. Anyways, I highly recommend this book!
December 28, 2021
A good primer.
June 30, 2017
im happy this exists and it remains a really good primer. but i was frustrated with the ways that even in a super intersectional book queer and trans people were siloed into about 10 pages and a note in the introduction saying "we kno not all people who get abortions are women but we will use the word women often anyway."
i also am skeptical of the human rights framework this text uses. perhaps if the text made it clear when this framework of appealing to the state for rights was useful/applicable and when it falls short it would make more sense to me. because of course i am blown away by the way that radical womxn of color organizing has influenced public policy and laws, and therefore the lived realities of those most vulnerable. pragmatically i understand its appeals to the state and legal apparatus, but i also am sure there is more there?? i would think that you could have a reproductive justice framework without an investment in whether the state recognizes your community building and community organizing work. but also when it comes to reproductive justice *what i think is largely irrelevant*, and i will continue to do all i can to support <3
i also am skeptical of the human rights framework this text uses. perhaps if the text made it clear when this framework of appealing to the state for rights was useful/applicable and when it falls short it would make more sense to me. because of course i am blown away by the way that radical womxn of color organizing has influenced public policy and laws, and therefore the lived realities of those most vulnerable. pragmatically i understand its appeals to the state and legal apparatus, but i also am sure there is more there?? i would think that you could have a reproductive justice framework without an investment in whether the state recognizes your community building and community organizing work. but also when it comes to reproductive justice *what i think is largely irrelevant*, and i will continue to do all i can to support <3
March 20, 2018
must read.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews