Everyday Practices, Unaffordable Rights, Radical Liberation: Reproductive Justice Direct Service Activism

Abstract

In post- Roe America, access to reproductive care is rapidly dwindling, with the criminalization of abortion on the rise. Yet, in these frustrating and perilous times, organizations, activists, and volunteers facilitate access to care every day via digital direct service activism. This article is a meditation on the transformational nature of direct service praxis in the contemporary reproductive justice movement. To document my own ongoing transformation, I include autoethnographic reflections on my experiences as a direct service volunteer from August 2021 to December 2022. Practices such as distributing abortion funding and peer counseling on an anonymous talkline have transformed my understanding and experience of liberation work. I want to draw attention to these quiet actions and exchanges that often go unnoticed in our loud, neoliberal capitalist context. These communions of care and connection help forge the future now, in small, radical, and tangible ways.