From Refusing Stigmatization toward Celebration: New Directions for Reproductive Justice Activism

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FromRefusingStigmatizationtowardCelebration: New Directionsfor Reproductive JusticeActivism Carly Thomsen For the last two decades, scholars and activists have discussed the relationship between reproductive justice and reproductive rights frameworks and movements primarily in terms of the differences between them. With the wide adoption of discourses of reproductive justice — even by those mainstream feminist groups doing the type of work this concept intended to disrupt—it has become difficult to pin point the ways in which differences between the reproductive rights and justice models manifest. In this brief commentary, I highlight an unfortunate similarity between the two approaches today: a fear of celebrating abortion. This problem has multiple roots. Reproductive justice advocates, who have often directed their critiques at mainstream reproductive rights organizations, have worked to push mainstream feminists beyond understanding abortion as the single most important wom en's issue, citing both the impact of the eugenicist history of abor tion and contraception on women of color and women with disabili ties, as well as the many reproductive rights issues that have garnered less attention including forced sterilization, environmental toxins in breast milk, mandatory drug testing of women on public assistance, and the lack of social support for poor women to have and raise the number of children they want.1 At the same time, reproductive rights FeministStudies39, no. 1. © 2013 by Feminist Studies, Inc. 149 150 Carly Thomsen organizations have attempted to garner mass support for their issues through framing reproductive rights in relation to privacy, govern ment intrusion, and health, distancing themselves from issues of lib eration, rights, and justice.2 The combined result is a pervasive nega tivity toward abortion that transcends our movements and impacts broader cultural understandings of the practice. I draw from two examples of reproductive justice activism —Native women acting in response to South Dakota's abortion ban and a University of Califor nia student organization working against crisis pregnancy centers — to suggest new visions for refusing stigmatization and moving toward celebrating abortion. Abortion: Beyond Difficulty and Trauma "Pro-choice" politicians and reproductive rights activists alike often describe abortion as "one of the most difficult and complex deci sions a woman will ever make."3 A Planned Parenthood state affiliate claims that "reducing the need for abortion is a goal we can all sup port."4 When the largest and best known abortion rights organiza tions and their pro-choice political allies frame abortion in this way, abortion rights movements have a serious problem. The 40th anni versary of the Roe v. Wade decision is an apt time to call reproductive rights advocates to move away from an apologist framework through which abortion is described as negative, harmful, and regrettable.5 It is certainly worth questioning the notion that reducing abortion rep resents progress and that abortion is always a difficult decision. One in every three US women will have an abortion in her life time. For many of these women, abortion is a simple, easily made decision. It is one component of women's healthcare, and it is not any more physically or emotionally damaging than a Pap smear for the vast majority of women who opt to undergo the procedure. As repro ductive rights advocates are fond of pointing out, abortion is actually safer than childbirth. And the vast majority of women report feeling relief after abortion; according to the American Psychological Associ ation, significant negative responses to abortion are rare.6 At the same time, feminist advocates for reproductive justice rec ognize that this narrative does not speak to all women's experiences. It was, after all, the lack of recognition of diverse needs and experi ences that led to the development of reproductive justice frameworks, Carly Thomsen 151 scholarship, and activism. In our attempts to account for the het erogeneity of women's lives and concerns, we acknowledge that not all women experience abortion in the same way, that it can be lib eratory and painful, devastating and empowering, all at the same time. Some women find it entirely liberating while others describe being traumatized by the experience. In our attempts to recognize the complexity of women's experiences, we find ourselves respond ing to and perpetuating the false claims of antiabortion...