Reproductive Justice Case Study

The topic of reproductive rights surrounding women in Texas has been a hot buttoned issue since the closing of many reproductive centers across the state. Recently damaging abortion restrictions were passed and therefor encroach on women’s reproductive rights even more by decreasing access to abortion care. Texas’ 84th Legislature, both passed HB 3994 as a law and had it Governor Abbott make it effective with his signature on July 8, or this year. This law complicates access to abortion services for mistreated and neglected minors and for those who do not possess specific identification cards in Texas.

Jill E. Adams  is the founding executive director of the Center on Reproductive Rights and Justice at Berkeley Law.  Before joining Berkeley Law she was the executive director of Law Students for Reproductive Justice for six years. She was one of 37 Soldiers of Social Change in San Francisco Magazine’s annual power issue, she is the youngest person to have received the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Fellowship for nonprofit leadership award. This piece is about the legalities of abortions and how the law is regulated and funded for. This

As a woman, I realize my place in society. But as a black woman, I realize the opportunities that could be taken away from me any second. While reading When Pregnance is Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Be Pregnant by Tiloma Jayasinghe, I thought about what privileges that would be evoked from me if I were from a low-income family, strung out on drugs, and pregnant. Ayn Rand once stated, “The question isn’t who’s going to let me; it’s who’s going to stop me.” For poor women of color who are on drugs and pregnant, society has come up with ways to control their sexuality. One way Jayasinghe talks about in her essay are the laws that seek to punish these women for “continuing their pregnancy to term, because their drug use allegedly harmed the ‘unborn child (Jayasinghe 266).’” The problem does not lie in the fact that these women are on drugs and poor, but rather the fact that these women are practicing their rights to be sexually active, which lead to pregnancy.

Main Theme: My final paper will be utilizing the essays of Marilyn Frye, with particular interest focusing on her theory of oppression, in correlation to the modern day issue of “the war on Planned Parenthood”.

In her chapter “Our Bodies, Ourselves: Reproductive Rights” she displays how the different society classes and race played a role in women’s rights (reproductively) as for the access to legal abortions, for most of the African Americans and the poor were not able to receive access to legal abortions due to cost. This chapter compares to Andrea Tone’s novel by illustrating how women of color were not privileged, which resulted in many having illegal abortions, as well as the right to choose when they could have children due to their demanding

The topic of women’s reproductive rights has become a major, controversial issue in today’s society. Grounded in a history of opposition for religious, political, and moral reasons, reproductive rights have only legally been around for a short period of history. Specifically, the landmark case Roe v. Wade was the major stride that this country took towards enforcing women’s reproductive rights. The ruling for this case determined that reproductive rights are legal rights women hold, inclusive of the right to have abortions. However, many laws today are made in an effort to prevent abortions, acting as “undue burdens” that aim to create obstacles for women who seek this type of medical procedure.

These strategies continue to undermine the choices that the Women of Color have in deciding whether or not they want to have children because they do not want to be stigmatized with poverty. Obviously, the adverse and psychological effects of the various interlocking forms of oppressions that limits Women of Color’s reproductive rights makes it very important to understand them.

In recent years, America’s attention has been gripped by stories of women who have escaped from the Middle East. Each has a unique story, but they all have the same themes of oppression, abuse, and domination. Americans rushed onto the scene ready to “save” Middle Eastern women and many of the activists are now been highly praised for the influence they made in the region. Others, however, have come to question whether the Muslim women in the Middle East really needed the U.S. to rescue them from Islam. *Insert Thesis*

Until 1969, when Bill C-150 was established which decriminalized contraception and made abortion legal, though only to those whose pregnancy threatened their life or health, information about anything regarding women’s reproductive rights was withheld except to married couples (lecture). This is a clear example of the heteronormative sex equation, where those who abided to it were granted access to information and services not given to those who were outside of that equation. An example where women had their reproductive rights violated is that of forced sterilizations, particularly that of Leilani Muir in Alberta in 1955 (lecture). Muir’s story is one of thousands of women who were forced to be sterilized through the Alberta Sexual Sterilization Act (1928-1972) due to the concept of eugenics, which believes that human characteristics are inherited, and in order to have the best human race, mental and developmental disabilities had to be eliminated through sterilization, even if it was forced (Carolyn Egan and Linda

Women having been fighting for equal rights for many years. Because of our genitalia, we will be paid less, we will be judged more, and we will have to fight to protect our basic human rights. Most women are born with the amazing ability to carry life; this is a blessing and a curse. Because of this ability, some people believe that a woman’s body is not completely her own, but that the government has rights to that body as well. We have been fighting to control our own bodies for many years. All women must understand that fighting for our reproductive rights is not just a simple pro-life or pro-choice battle, but a complex fight to teach proper sex education, maintain women’s health facilities, and protect our essential human rights.

Have you ever wondered how people around the world live? If so, then at some point in time in your life you thought like a Cultural Anthropologist. But have you ever thought about how the way people in the Middle East live? Probably not right? Islam and Middle Eastern culture, might be the most misunderstood culture from around the world. It is especially difficult to understand by those in western societies. People who live in western societies tend to have this stigma towards people from the Middle East that they’re bad people and they’re all terrorist when in fact they’re not. They are a regular society, deeply rooted in tradition and culture. Westerners sometimes don’t understand that because it’s western ideology to be civilized and conform to what those with social power say what’s right. For many years, the people of the Middle East have been targeted by western imperialism to try and change who they are and what they believe in, but most countries put up a fight. The role of women in the Middle East has been especially difficult to understand by those outside of the culture. Contrary to what many people might believe, women play a major role in their society and are not as oppressed as many people may think. They contribute highly to education, the economy, and other social and cultural factors such as religion, family, and the social status of women in the Middle East.

Yes, I do believe as Americans, we should organize for reproductive justice rather than just settling on abortion rights, birth control and reproductive rights. The reason I believe we should just settle for reproductive justice because, it’s helpful for women who have suffered greatly. It is dangerous for us if we don’t let women think for themselves. For example, women who don’t receive a good quality of education will never be able to have a bright future for themselves and their children.

Women must be entitled to freedom, dignity and equality of treatment without regard to their race, religion or color. As Ina Gaskin (2011) stated, “women should not lose their human rights when they become mothers” (p.85). Moreover, I believe birth rights are connected to human rights, as they must allow women to direct their care surrounding pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum, and entitle women to respect and equality of treatment. Sadly, the pregnancy-related mortality ratios and stories such as Serena Williams’s, exemplify the reality that women of color are often stripped of their basic

Throughout American history, women have faced many challenges to earn equal rights in almost all aspects of life. Although changes have been made, today there are still battle to be won. One of these issues is the struggle for improving reproductive rights. Women are often judged for their maternal decisions, whether that is in choosing surrogacy, abortion, and even those who choose different forms of contraception. Over the years, Planned Parenthood and other health services have recieved a negative connotation for what services they provide, especially on the basis of providing abortion services. With our new president in office, women are concerned that their reproductive rights, such as the right to have an

Women’s reproductive rights are a global issue in today’s world. Women have to fight to have the right to regulate their own bodies and reproductive choices, although in some countries their voices are ignored. Abortion, sterilization, contraceptives, and family planning services all encompass this global issue of women’s reproductive rights.