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Black Women for Reproductive Justice
(BWRJ),
formerly known as African American
Women Evolving, Inc. (AAWE) was founded in
1996.
Our mission is to help Black women and
girls realize reproductive justice.
We seek to build a grassroots constituency
organized to collectively affect changes in
the public and private institutions
and
policies that prevent us from obtaining
optimum reproductive and sexual health.
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(FEATURED) From Toni Bond Leonard, President & CEO |
An important part of our work at Black Women
for Reproductive Justice
is to let
policymakers know the impact of various
policies upon the lives of women, especially
Black women. On December 12, 2008, I was a
part of a group of activists who met with
the President-Elect’s Transition Team to
discuss recommendations reproductive justice
activists made to advance reproductive
health and rights. I was asked to speak
about the devastating effect of abortion
funding restrictions on poor women who are
disproportionately women of color. We are
in a pivotal point in history. This is a
time when we must identify the issues that
concern us and carry our voices to
policymakers about the changes we want to
see.
This is the work for each of us who believe
in women being able to be self-determining
about their lives, their bodies, the
communities that we call home. It is truly
the time to “color our world” with fairness,
justice, and equality. Take some time to
reflect on what fairness, justice, and
equality mean to you. What do you think
needs to happen, especially, around the
issue of reproductive justice?
Take a look at the full document that
reproductive health and rights activists
have created:
Advancing Reproductive Health and Rights in
a New Administration
on President-Elect Obama’s
change.gov website.
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WHAT IS "REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE" |
Reproductive Justice, as it
has been defined by Asian Communities for
Reproductive Justice (ACRJ), one of the founding
members of SisterSong, is “the complete physical,
mental, spiritual, political, economic, and social
well-being of women and girls.” ACRJ further states
that, “reproductive justice will be achieved when
women and girls have the economic, social and
political power and resources to make healthy
decisions about our bodies, sexuality and
reproduction for ourselves, our families and our
communities in all areas of our lives.” Read the
ACRJ’s
“A
New Vision for Reproductive Justice“
for a more in-depth understanding of the
Reproductive Justice framework. Also read
SisterSong’s paper,
“Understanding
Reproductive Justice.”
BWRJ’s President on
Panel About Reproductive Justice
This panel was sponsored by The Public Square at the
Illinois Humanities Council, Illinois Caucus for
Adolescent Health and the Jane Addams Hull-House
Museum. It was aired on public radio WBEZ.org’s
Chicago Amplied, a web-based audio archive. BWRJ’s
President/CEO, Toni M. Bond Leonard give the history
of reproductive justice and offered insights into
how reproductive justice is linked to other social
justice issues. |
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SisterSong
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Sister Love, Inc.
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Raising Women’s Voices
 Illinois
women have much at stake in the debate over
health care reform. The current American health
care system has consistently failed to provide
access to needed care for many girls and women.
It has also created tremendous challenges for
the women who coordinate health care for our
families.
Black Women for Reproductive Justice is a proud
supporter of and is serving as the regional
coordinator for the National Raising Women’s
Voices Collaborative and is working to ensure
women’s health care is represented in the health
care reform debate in Illinois.
Raising Women’s Voices is a
national initiative to support quality,
affordable health care for all. Its goal is to
engage a broad array of women’s health advocates
in local, state and national health reform
discussions to ensure that women’s concerns will
be addressed and the health care we get will
truly be health care for all. The
collaboration was launched by The Avery
Institute for Social Change, MergerWatch, an
affiliate of Community Catalyst, and
The National Women’s Health Network.
Stay tuned for updates to
this page about ways you can be involved in
efforts to ensure the concerns of women in
Illinois are represented in Illinois health care
reform debates and the work of the National
Raising Women’s Voices Collaborative. You can
also visit the
Raising Women’s Voices
website for more information.
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Illinois Campaign for Reproductive Choice
Ensuring Reproductive Justice for Illinois Women
and Girls BWRJ is part of a statewide coalition
of reproductive justice, reproductive health,
and reproductive rights groups working
collaboratively to protect Illinois women's
access to the full range of reproductive health
care, including safe abortion. This coalition is
currently working to bring that to fruition
through building community and legislative
support for the Reproductive Health and Access
Act.
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Hyde 30 Years is Enough
 BWRJ is a part of a national collaborative to
repeal the Hyde Amendment called the
“Hyde
30 Years Is Enough“
campaign spearheaded by the National Network of
Abortion Funds. This coalition includes
partners like the National Abortion Federation,
the ACLU, the Alan Guttmacher Institute, and
SisterSong. BWRJ’s work under this campaign has
been to help educate legislators about the
impact of the Hyde Amendment upon Black women.
The National Network of Abortion Funds Hyde 30
Years Is Enough Campaign calls for full public
funding of abortion as a part of comprehensive
health care for all, and support for low-income
women to care for their families with dignity.
Read more about the Hyde Amendment…
How you can Act Now!
INFORM people in your community
about the Hyde amendment and its negative impact
on the lives of poor women. Contact BWRJ to do
an educational session about the Hyde Amendment
and how it disproportionately impacts women of
color.
CALL, EMAIL, OR WRITE your
Federal and/or State representative and urge
them to repeal the Hyde Amendment.
SUPPORT
your local abortion fund and help women in need
get access to abortion services. BWRJ welcome’s
your support to help make first trimester
abortions accessible for women in Illinois
through its Illinois Reproductive Justice Fund.
Email us
at or call 773/955-2709 for more information.
If you are interested in supporting groups that
help women nationally or in another state, visit
the National Network of Abortion Funds at
www.nnaf.org.
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Chicago Women and Girls HIV Prevention Coalition
BWRJ is a member of the
Chicago Women and Girls
HIV Prevention Coalition
organized by the
Aids Foundation of Chicago
as a part of the
Global Campaign for
Microbicides.
AAWE’s work in this coalition has been to help
educate the general public and policymakers
about the need for increased research and
development of a microbicide as an additional
line of defense against the transmission of
HIV. Still in the research and development
stage, microbicides would be a range of
different products that could be applied
topically to help in the prevention of HIV and
other sexually transmitted infections. They
could be in the form of a gels, creams,
suppositories, films, or as a sponge or ring
that releases the active ingredient over time.
Scientists are currently
testing many substances to see whether they help
protect against HIV and/or other STIs, but no
safe and effective microbicide is currently
available to the public. For more information
about microbicides, visit the
Global Campaign for
Microbicides website.
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NNAF
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Kitchen Table Talk©
on BWRJ Radio.
Toni Bond Leonard, and
Cherisse Scott from Black Women for
Reproductive Justice host
Kitchen Table Talk©
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Cutting edge discussions for, by and about black women.
Every Wednesday from
3pm to 4pm central time
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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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