User talk:H.k.d.29

hi holly, glad to work with you again on this. ekh 15:23, 11 September 2015 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Emilykayhanks (talk • contribs)

Article Evaluation: due 02/12/15
I am evaluating the Wikipedia page on Reproductive Justice. I settled on evaluating this page because reproductive justice advocacy is an integral part of the activist work that I do in my internship with Texas Freedom Network, in addition to it being an issue that is very close to my heart.

The first edit that I would suggest making to the reproductive justice article would be to include the name of the actual group of black women who coined the term reproductive justice. The following description is quoted from the account of a Loretta Ross: "The concept of Reproductive Justice began to take shape when members of a women of color delegation returned from the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, Egypt. Shortly after, a group of African American women caucused at the Illinois Pro-Choice Alliance Conference in Chicago. The group became known as Women of African Descent for Reproductive Justice. They decided to devise a strategy to challenge the proposed healthcare reform campaign by the Clinton Administration that did not include guaranteeing access to abortion. Not wanting to use the language of 'choice' because they represented communities with few real choices, they integrated the concepts of reproductive rights, social justice and human rights to launch the term 'Reproductive Justice.' Their signature ad in the Washington Post debuted the term reproductive justice in 1994." Just in this excerpt from Ross's account, we learn that the Wikipedia page on reproductive justice is wrong in reporting that the "movement arose in the late 1980s." It is also incredibly important to give credit to the creators of a movement, especially when they are women of color, because women of color are all too often left out of the histories of revolutionary movements, when more often than not they are at the forefront of said movements. Later in the article, the editors do provide the above information, but I felt like it needed to be included at the very beginning. The start of the article doesn't feel like a lead section to me, and if there isn't going to be a lead section, then that specific information should be included at the beginning. The article could have made an internal link to the reproductive rights page, as they did with reproductive health, or they could have made an external link to one of the many pro-choice organizations who have pages dedicated to reproductive rights.

I believe the article is mistaken in making the reproductive health framework seem more inclusive than what I understand it to be. Reproductive health is focused simply on the provision of health care services; it does not take into account structural inequalities that account for lack of access to education/other services, nor does it address the root causes of social inequality. Reproductive justice is the only framework that addresses the root causes of social inequality by seeking to lift up and empower entire communities.

I appreciate how the article pulled definitions and their information from Forward Together, previously known as Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice, because Forward Together is a very reputable organization in the movement that focuses specifically on women of color.

The last sentence of the 3rd paragraph needs a citation.

Under the section "Issues" is the sub-section "sex education," for which nothing has been written. Advocates for anti-choice policies want fewer abortions to occur; but they don't want to implement anything that would actually reduce the number of abortions, i.e., adequate sex education in schools, access to contraception, and improving the foster care system. People of all ages are going to have sex. It does not make sense to not talk about sex in the hopes that people will somehow refrain from having intercourse. Because no one can control another person's sex life, the next step should be educating folks on safe sex practices to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies. Sex education is a HUGE part of the reproductive justice framework, and something that I am lobbying for in Austin later this month.

My last critique of this article is concerning the concept of intersecting oppressions. At the end of this article, intersectionality is listed as one of the main themes of the page. However, nothing in the piece actually defines the term or identifies what intersecting oppressions look like for people seeking reproductive justice. Moreover, Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term "intersectionality," and yet receives no credit in this article for having done so. It is also important to note that saying something like "I identify as an intersectional feminist" is a misuse of the term all together. You can be a feminist that recognizes intersectionality, or the intersections of various forms of oppression, but it is grammatically incorrect to refer to oneself as an "intersectional feminist." There is nothing in this article that talks about gender identity, and if a main theme of the page is focused on intersectionality, gender identity must be talked about. In the mainstream, reproductive justice is too often talked about as specifically a women's issue. Well, not all women have a uterus and not all people who have a uterus identify as women. For example, trans men require access to somewhat similar reproductive health care that a cisgender woman would require, but this definition does not include them.

It is important to remember that not all people who need abortions are women, not all women have uteri, and there are most certainly genderqueer and trans people in the reproductive justice movement. We all deserve access to holistic reproductive health care and we all deserve to be treated with respect when seeking out those services.

H.k.d.29 (talk) 16:03, 10 February 2015 (UTC)

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