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Black
Women as Change Agents for Reproductive
Justice |
True
reproductive justice, as it was defined by the women
of color visionaries who coined the phrase and
developed the analysis, promotes a framework for
carrying out the work that recognizes the lived
experiences of women and acknowledges their varying
levels of expertise around their own lives and the
associated reproductive and social justice issues
that have impacted them. It creates a place in the
movement for women who have been on the fringes
because they have no legal and medical expertise or
formal activist training. By the same token, it
provides the necessary education and training to
women helping them develop that expertise to become
true agents of change in their own lives and the
communities in which they live. Having one of the
women of color visionaries who helped coined the
phrase “Reproductive Justice” on staff, BWRJ is
grounded in the understanding that the ending
reproductive oppression necessitates working to
remove the social and economic barriers that create
the environment of oppression. This has been our
philosophy since our founding. We see a need for a
strong training program that not only educates Black
women and girls about reproductive health but
teaches women and girls how to become change agents
and advocates in their reproductive lives.
BWRJ continues to be one of the few reproductive
health organizations in Illinois focused solely on
promoting a reproductive justice agenda that takes a
holistic approach to the reproductive lives of Black
women and girls. It is also one of the few Black
institutions in Illinois that utilizes a
reproductive justice framework to organize and
mobilize Black women.
BWRJ was founded by and for Black women to work on
an expanded agenda utilizing a framework of
reproductive justice that moves beyond traditional
choice theory. This expanded vision of reproductive
justice looks at the intersectionality of race,
class, and gender and how together, they contribute
to varying forms of reproductive oppression in the
lives of all women and girls, especially women of
color.
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