What Does Reproductive Justice Have To Do With STEM
I was 24 and in the middle of my first year as an undergraduate in physics when I learned that I was six weeks pregnant. Having an abortion was a clear decision to make. I had recently left an abusive relationship, and was working a full-time job while also attending school full-time in the evenings. Had it not been for access to resources (a job that payed slightly above minimum wage), a manager who supported me in confidence, giving me the time off that I needed, and care through Planned Parenthood, my life would likely look very different today. Needless to say, this was a pivotal moment both for me as a young adult and for my STEM career journey––and I have no regrets.
“The law bans abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy — before many people even know they’re pregnant.” –ACLU
Texas’ new abortion ban (S.B. 8) will “decimate abortion access in the state” according to an ACLU press release. Of people who receive abortions in the state approximately 85–90%, “are at least six weeks into pregnancy.” The potential for a chilling domino effect may already be playing out in Florida.
A “Handmaid’s Tale” protest outside the US Capitol in Washington, D.C. (2017). Image credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES + NEWSWEEK
In response, white feminism is focused on abortion rights and slogans like “my body, my choice”––wringing its hands as it trades pink hats for red hooded robes. Outside of the mainstream movement, Black feminist, activist, and professor Loretta J. Ross presents us with a more nuanced framework: reproductive justice.
“While abortion is one primary health issue, we knew that abortion advocacy alone inadequately addressed the intersectional oppressions of white supremacy, misogyny, and neoliberalism.” –Loretta J. Ross
Ross was one of 12 Black women who created this intersectional framework in 1994, one that centered communities for whom the stakes were highest — for example those at the intersections of race, class, gender, and immigration status — and broadened the discourse to include structures that lead to disproportionate impacts in those communities. To add further nuance to the conversation, we could examine settler-colonialism, the legacy of which continues to impact, for example, the reproductive freedom of the people of Guam, a U.S. territory (read: colony). We might also examine carcerality, or the ways in which gendered and racialized violence is disproportionally experienced by queer, trans, and disabled people — communities often left out of mainstream conversations about abortion rights.
So…what does reproductive justice have to do with STEM?
Everything.
Reproductive justice means access to abortion as a human right, but it also means access to adequate healthcare, a living wage, housing and food security, the ability to live free of violence (whether it’s domestic, gendered, or state-sanctioned). Reproductive justice advocates for the strengthening of communities and the disruption of racist, capitalist, abelist, cis-heterosexist systems and institutions — the kind of disruption STEM practitioners have poured their energy into for decades. The kind of disruption that, for a brief moment, #ShutDownSTEM last summer.
A #ShutDownSTEM graphic from June 2020.
Whether your day job is to tell stories of the Universe with math and code or to develop breakthrough technology, STEM disciplines and institutions are products of these larger social systems. Inadequate healthcare and childcare, toxic workplace culture, gendered violence, just to name a few, are conditions that exist in your labs, departments, offices, and universities. And marginalized students, junior faculty, and employees of color have likely been the ones trying to do something to change those conditions.
Reproductive justice is Intersectionality in action. Now, more than ever, it’s critical to look for the helpers and to find ways that you can contribute. Learn both about the history of the family planning movement and the ways in which women of color have been disproportionately impacted. Advocate for policies like paid family leave, equitable hiring practices, and accessible workplace environments. Donate to and amplify reproductive justice organizations in Texas.
“I have found that battling despair does not mean closing my eyes to the enormity of the tasks of effecting change, nor ignoring the strength and the barbarity of the forces aligned against us.” –Audre Lorde
P.S. Interested in a reproductive justice reading list? Skip to the bottom of the original article, published by Isabel on Medium, for books and articles by authors like Angela Davis and Imani Barbarin.
Isabel (they/she) is a Master’s graduate of Oregon State University where they studied the forces that govern physical systems in our Universe, as well as the social forces that shape our world.
A Black queer feminist, writer, and public speaker, Isabel is passionate about challenging systems of oppression to make STEM a place where people from marginalized communities can thrive.
Connect with Isabel on twitter, instagram, LinkedIn, and their blog.
