Organizations and Figures

Loretta Ross

Loretta Ross is a women's movement activist, professor, author, podcast host, and public speaker. She is one of the more well know founders of the Reproductive Justice Movement. Her motivation for becoming a feminist and then becoming part of the reproductive justice movement was due to the birth of her son. In an interview she describes her experience of having her son who is a product of incest, she explains that her lack of sexual education prevented her from really knowing what was happening, and then when she became pregnant her only option was adoption.

She joined the women's movement in the 1970s and has since worked at a rape crisis center, co-founded the SisterSong Foundation, written 3 books, become a professor, was a major catalyst in the reproductive justice movement, and has a public platform to share her knowledge.

Reproductive Justice Founding Mothers

There was a group of 12 black women at The International Conference on Population and Development that were a major catalyst for the reproductive justice movement. These women were Toni M. Bond Leonard, Reverend Alma Crawford, Evelyn S. Field, Terri James, Bisola Marignay, Cassandra McConnell, Cynthia Newbille, Lorretta Ross, Elizabeth Terry, ‘Able’ Mable Thomas, Winnette P. Willis, and Kim Youngblood.

These women came from many different organizations to reform the proposed policy at the International Conference on Population and Development. Some of the women were pro-life and others were pro-choice, but they came together because they saw the issues many women were facing regarding reproductive rights, especially black women. They combined reproductive rights and social justice and came up with the concept of reproductive justice because they realized that intersectionality was not being addressed and wasn't included under the term reproductive rights, this new term reproductive justice would focus more on how and why women were facing reproductive issues.

What is The International Conference on Population and Development?

The International Conference on Population and Development took place in Cairo, Egypt on September 5-13, 1994. The conference was set up by the United Nations to discuss issues regarding population, these included many issues impacting women. The issues include abortion, birth control, infant mortality, maternal mortality, family planning, and more. The goal was to bring more awareness to women's reproductive health and to address the reasons behind the mortality rates to see if what type of solution could be made.

Ipas: Partners for Reproductive Justice

Ipas was founded in 1973 with the purpose of providing reproductive health technology, but the main goal is to provide safe accessible abortions. They currently work in Africa, Asia, and South America but are continuing to expand their work. Not only are they providing safe access to abortions but they are partnering with local organizations to try to educate more people on their reproductive rights and support reproductive justice. One of the things this organization is working toward is a more sustainable abortion ecosystem, this means acknowledging the different resources women have such as their education on reproductive rights, their financial situation, if they're religious, their family situation, and more because all of these play a large part in access to abortion.

Ipas: Partners for Reproductive Justice

Sustainable Abortion Ecosystem

In the picture to the left, each leaf represents the components or the framework for a sustainable abortion ecosystem and the four essential drivers for achieving sustainability. If you look at the leaves you will see many factors that will impact someone's access to abortion, and I think this is a great representation of acknowledging the inequality women face because many people seem to think that just because something is available that it's accessible to all.

Providing Reproductive Healthcare for Rohingya Refugees

Many of the women in these refugee camps are pregnant, have been raped or abused, and need medical care, contraceptives, and access to safe abortions. There is a midwife training program that the women can go through so that they will be able to provide the care themselves and then go on to teach others. If women know that they can go somewhere safe for an abortion or reproductive healthcare it can save.

IPPF: International Planned Parenthood Federation

IPPF is a global healthcare provider that advocates for sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights. They are present in 146 countries doing work that includes sex education, abortion care, contraceptives access, prenatal care, and more. The current programs they have going on are Women's Integrated Sexual Health (WISH), Social Enterprise Acceleration Programme, SPRINT: Sexual and Reproductive Health In Crisis And Post-Crisis Situations, Safe Abortion Action Fund, Japan Trust Fund, and ACCESS. Through these programs, they are able to reach countless women's lives to provide them with necessary healthcare, education, aid after crisis and more.

IPPF: International Planned Parenthood Federation

SPRINT: Sexual and Reproductive Health In Crisis And Post-Crisis Situations

This program is helping communities through family planning services, HIV prevention, safe places to give birth, support for survivors of gender based violence, and stopping the spread of covid. This program urges governments to write sexual and reproductive health issues into disaster response plans and train local people on how to deal with crise. Not only are they currently trying to help stop the spread of covid but they are learning to deal with climate change.

The SisterSong Foundation

This foundation was created in 1997 by 16 organizations of women of color, including women from the indeginious community, black community, Latina community, and the Asian community. Their purpose as stated on their website "is to build an effective network of individuals and organizations to improve institutional policies and systems that impact the reproductive lives of marginalized communities." One of their main focuses is reproductive justice, but they are also focusing on the voices of women of color and their perspectives. They have many programs and events to help the communities, they also have a youth program to help shape young minds.

The SisterSong Foundation: Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective

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