On the weekend of April 14, Reproductive Health Access Project (RHAP) team members (staff, fellows, and interns) attended the 37th annual From Abortion Rights to Social Justice: Building the Movement for Reproductive Freedom Conference at Hampshire College. The conference aims to “…inspire, educate, train and support new activists and leadership to secure reproductive and sexual rights, freedom,…
“Reproductive Justice has so many ports to enter and participate, and now more than ever, it is imperative for people of all genders and backgrounds to have access to and advocate for reproductive health care for all. My work focuses specifically on working with and advocating for women of color, particularly survivors of sexual abuse,…
“Reproductive Justice is the vision that women and non-binary people must have self determination over our bodies, our reproduction and our family formations. During this current political moment, the reproductive justice movement, led by women of color and TGNC folks of color, shines a guiding light on how to generate powerful policy and cultural solutions,…
“Reproductive justice is our past, present, and our future. It is the framework that our ancestors thrived on. We cannot fight for reproductive and human rights without centering marginalized communities, the people who have abortions, those who parent in poverty, across borders and disabilities, and at a young age, and seek adoption in our work.…
Loretta Ross is the definition of the word “survivor.” Ross has lived through sterilization abuse, rape and was forced to raise a child born of incest. Though these conditions, ones that affect women of color disproportionately, could have limited her potential, she instead became an advocate for women’s rights, diversity, and human rights. “I’ve been…
Ruth Barnett, an abortionist in the first half of the 1900s, was an example of a self-made woman. After becoming pregnant at the age of 16 and obtaining an abortion from a doctor, she became convinced that all women who sought to have an abortion deserved the right to get one. She connected with Dr.…
One wouldn’t expect such an inflamed reaction for sitting on the bus after a long day, but Rosa Parks did just that—and was arrested for it because she refused to give up her seat in the “colored section” of a bus to a white passenger. Her activism in the civil rights movement, however, began long…
Pauli Murray’s exemplary career as a civil rights lawyer began with a seat on a bus in the whites-only section and a subsequent arrest. The experience of being arrested drove her to begin work with the Workers’ Defense League, which propelled her dream of law school, resulting in a law degree from Howard University, a…
A cowboy hat, pink sunglasses and fake eyelashes…those were the trademark accessories for Florynce Kennedy, a woman who was recognized equally by her staple uniform as she was by her activism. Growing up in Missouri during a time when the Ku Klux Klan was locally operating, she was no stranger to local prejudice and her…
Recognizing that abortions had been illegally performed in hospitals under the guise of “therapeutic abortions” but always attached to a large check, Dr. Edgar Bass Keemer, Jr. was the sole Detroit physician who provided abortions to poor black and white women who were welfare recipients or Medicaid card holders. The son of a doctor and…