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Reproductive Justice Defined
The term "reproductive justice" was coined by Loretta Ross, co-founder and National Coordinator of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective from 2005-2012. She defines reproductive justice as a framework created by activist women of color to address how race, gender, class, ability, nationality, and sexuality intersect. Based on the theory of intersectionality, people have different life experiences and opportunities based on how identity categories interact with each other. Meaning, poor, black, immigrant women face different, and much more difficult, circumstances than say a white, cisgender, wealthy, male. Reproductive justice explains how people with intersectional identities experience higher levels of reproductive oppression. Women of color created this framework because they did not have any or as much choice as their privileged counterparts when it came to making decisions about women's healthcare.

Reproductive justice is a critical, theoretical framework that was invented as a response to U.S. reproductive politics. The three core values of reproductive justice (RJ) are (1) the right to have a child, (2), the right to not have a child, and (3) the right to parent a child or children in safe and healthy environments.

The founders of the reproductive justice framework argued that it is "purposefully controversial" because it centralizes communities of color. Advocates state that centering these communities pushes back against the "dehumanizing status quo of reproductive politics."

Reproductive justice is lens used to address issues like abortion, contraception, immigration, welfare, HIV/AIDS, environmental justice, indigenous communities, and disability. It tries to make sense of community issues and issues that involve reproduction. This includes education, income, immigration status, disability, and sexual orientation because these factors may shape access to reproductive healthcare.

Historical Roots
In 2004, Jael Silliman published the first book on reproductive justice, Undivided Rights: Women of Color Organizing for Reproductive Justice.

Dr. George Tiller was a late-term abortion provider who was assassinated in his church in Wichita, Kansas, in 2009. He coined the phrase "Trust Women" which was used to promote abortion rights by arguing that women should be trusted to make their own decisions. "Trust Women" became the name of an organization and conference based on women's reproductive rights. Building on his legacy and the popularity of this phrase, SisterSong and reproductive justice advocates adopted a similar slogan, "Trust Black Women."

Reproductive Justice and Pro-Choice
Abortion discourse in the United States is often explained in terms of being "pro-choice," i.e. in favor of abortion rights, or "pro-life," i.e. favoring fetal development and the unborn child, and generally being opposed to abortion. Reproductive justice challenges the pro-choice/pro-life dichotomy. RJ understands "choice" as something that divides women in policy and practice because it assumes that all women have an equal ability to make the same choices. Therefore, "choice" ignores structural factors such as economic status, race, immigration state, etc. Some women's studies scholars like Greta Gaard argue that "choice" is a "scheme of omission" which means that it leaves many women out of the conversation, particular women of color, immigrant women, queer women, transgender women, etc. These identities do not have the same degrees of choice when it comes to accessing reproductive care. Gaard argues that this further divides women according to class and race. This creates a need for a new frame that is more inclusive, i.e. reproductive justice.

As a framework, reproductive justice is supposed to be more expansive and inclusive than "pro-choice". RJ includes community safety, violence, and the government's role in reproduction. The "go-to" or key example used to show how "reproductive justice" differs from "pro-choice," is police brutality. The reproductive justice framework addresses community issues including the right to safety and to parent in safe environments whereas pro-choice typically does not. Therefore, police brutality is a reproductive justice issue. The water crisis in Flint, Michigan, would also be considered a reproductive justice issue because that issue shapes the well-being and health of children and members of that community.

Reproductive justice advocates do not prefer choice as a term because it colloquially refers to a woman's right to choose abortion as guaranteed by Roe v. Wade (1973). RJ is about more than just abortion rights, which explains the need for new terminology. These advocates explain that reproductive health is about more than just abortion, especially for communities of color who have faced a history of forced sterilization and eugenic practices.

A common misconception is that reproductive justice meant to replace the terms "reproductive rights" and/or "reproductive health". It is not that one term is better than another term, but they do refer to different things. Reproductive justice as both a phrase and a concept is based on black women's voices and lives. It is based on movement-building. Reproductive rights refers to legal issues and reproductive health refers to services pertaining to reproductive.

Reproductive Justice and Rhetoric
Using the term reproductive justice instead of pro-choice, reproductive rights, or reproductive health, is a rhetorical choice. Robin West, professor of law and philosophy at Georgetown, explains that "pro-choice" court cases may have been lost because of how the issue was framed. For instance, she argues that "rights" rhetoric gives courts, specifically the Supreme Court, immense rhetorical power. Reproductive "health" often places power in the hands of doctors, medical professionals, and ability to access clinics. "Rights" and "health" both refer to power being given to the people from a top-down perspective. As a response, the "justice" frame puts power back into the hands of the people.

It is a common rhetorical strategy for pro-choice supporters to employ narrative as a rhetorical strategy. This means that they describe women's stories and experiences with reproductive healthcare. Pro-life supporters often use visual rhetoric, i.e. images of the fetus, to gain support for their position.

Although distinct from pro-choice frameworks, reproductive justice advocates typically rely on narrative as a rhetorical strategy to mobilize consensus. These narratives centralize women's stories and decision-making, similar to Tiller's "Trust Women" argument mentioned above. It also relies on public memory of feminist movements because it links women's stories across time and space. Narratives also explain the warrant, or why people are organizing. Narratives are used because they are more personal than abstract policy decisions and put a human face on political issues. While feminist narratives emphasize women's stories and experiences, reproductive justice narratives focus on women of color as rhetorical agents. They are situated as the experts. Narratives operated on two levels: (1) individual narratives as a rights-gaining strategy and (2) narratives about social justice or activist movements.

For rhetoricians, Celeste Condit's book on abortion discourse helps put pro-life and pro-choice ideologies in conversation. This book, Decoding Abortion Rhetoric: Communicating Social Change (1990), came out before reproductive justice was created but it is useful as a starting point for understanding how rhetoric shapes abortion debates. Some people believe that rhetoric is opposed to action and therefore less useful, but Condit shows how reality is made through rhetoric and how rhetoric is the key to communicating social change.

A rhetoric of reproductive justice has not been theorized, but discussing reproductive justice often uses women's stories of oppression to try to change perceptions of reproduction. It is about more than just abortion rights and opposes media and organizational messaging only see reproduction in terms of abortion.

Kathleen M. de Onı´s 2012 article in Environmental Communication argues that reproductive justice should be understood alongside environmental justice and climate change.

SisterSong
SisterSong is the organization that coined reproductive justice as a term. Their website states that reproductive justice is a human right, about access (not choice), and is about more than just abortion. They argue that reproductive justice can be achieved by examining power structures and intersectionality, joining together across identities and issues, and putting the most marginalized groups at the center of their advocacy.