Reproductive Justice and Respectful Maternity Care
By Celestine Ofori-Parku, PhD, UCSF
2022-2023 Student Ambassador Cohort - Center for Gender and Health Justice
June 2, 2023
Reproductive Justice is a framework that uses human rights principles to resist discriminatory laws and policies based on race, gender, and class. Reproductive Justice is achieved when women, girls, and LGBTQ individuals have the power and resources to make healthy decisions about their bodies and families. It also encompasses the right to parent without interference or violation from individuals or the state.
Reproductive Justice is not just about pro-life or pro-choice debates but also about the right to create families in any way individuals deem fit. Unfortunately, some workplaces have policies that indirectly influence reproductive choices. It also includes the right to determine who attends a birth and how to terminate a pregnancy with dignity, safety, and respect. Before during and after giving birth, women face injustices that deny their right to basic respectful maternity care, leading to adverse birth outcomes and maternal mortality/morbidity (Bohren et al., 2015; Jolivet et al., 2021; Shakibazadeh et al., 2018).
In the United States, Black women experience the worst maternal mortality/morbidity rates compared to other racial groups (Chen et al., 2021; Hoyert & Miniño, 2020) , due to intersectional injustices involving gender and racial inequality (Crenshaw, 1989). Severe maternal morbidity (SMM) is even more common than death. It affects about 55,000 women annually in the U.S. Racial disparities in SMM also exist during and after delivery discharge, leading to postpartum re-hospitalizations (Callaghan et al., 2012; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020). My research and advocacy work center around informing policies that ensure Black birthing individuals have access to equitable and respectful maternity care to address these racial disparities in maternal outcomes.
Additional Resources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oSSQyEEG34&t=2s