“Murda Dem, Murda Dem!” On Forbidden Wombs (black women) and Reproductive Justice

[JustAnotherGen]

Posted in the African American Group

Snipping out near the bottom of this piece. We’ve had a lot of newcomers to this group as of late who I would love to hear their opinions on the reproductive rights of black women. For us it goes beyond just access to abortion. It goes to simple things like access to quality health care for those who choose to bring a child into the world and who wish to raise them without interference by the Federal Government. The right to ensure we are not thrown to the ground by police officers when pregnant. The right to not be forced out of our children’s lives (parental rights) at alarming rates. (See the link for stats on NJ for example).

It’s not just police/law enforcement – it’s Physicians, Social Workers, law makers, folks who want to take out Planned Parenthood, folks who look the other way to grab children out of the welfare system (adoption), etc. etc. Or hell – just leaving black children to fester in the Foster system because ‘black women – you are not worthy’.

Now can we have this REALLY ugly discussion?

Punitive legislative measures by the federal and state governments to restrict women’s reproductive and parenting capacities creates distinctive vulnerabilities for all women, especially for Black women, many of whom lack the economic resources, social recognition and political capital needed to resist such pervasive reproductive regulations. The murderous enactment of racist patriarchy in law and policy sends a clear message: Black women are disposable and fundamentally ungrievable.

The violent inconsideration of Black women’s lives demands that activists embrace a reproductive justice (RJ) framework. As noted by RJ activist Loretta Ross, RJ is “the complete physical, mental, spiritual, political, social, and economic well-being of women and girls, based on the full achievement and protection of women’s human rights.” It emphasizes the need for women of color to access the resources and services needed to control their reproductive capacity, amidst the brute force of law enforcers, the state-sanctioned criminalization of our pregnancies, the forced removal of our children, the destruction of both the welfare system, and the insensitivity of the foster care system.

An RJ approach acknowledges that in the current state of recognition and belonging, Black women are systematically denied certain social and human rights associated with reproduction. It addresses the systemic variations in the ways that the rights of citizenship – the right to bear children, access to education, quality health care, and equal protection of the law – are filtered, conferred, and withheld from women according to their race, class, sexuality, and nationality.

In recognizing the interrelated forces of domination faced by Black women, RJ moves beyond matters of individual choice and privacy central to the white feminist agendas and the pro-choice movement to address the race- and class-based reproductive politics that impedes Black women’s ability to govern themselves. It recognizes the need to appropriately address the configurations of state power that link our contemporary penal state to our judicial, welfare, and health care systems in ways that subject Black women’s bodies to inhumane and lethal laws, policies, and practices.

Read more: http://www.forharriet.com/2015/09/murda-dem-murda-dem-on-forbidden-wombs.html#ixzz3lofkz4sB
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[MrScorpio]

1. Everything rings true

The only people who can't see this are willfully blind.

[JustAnotherGen]

2. With talk of New Jim Crow

Which ain't so new in concept to a lot of black folks . . .

One would like to think folks might be interested in how this affects black women and children.

[MrScorpio]

3. The black woman is the most put upon and disrespected person on this Earth

To say that it appalling to see it is an understatement.

Every white and conservative war on people has been primarily aimed against black women. I'm not going to go into the details, because it's been blatantly obvious since day one.

If you want to destroy black people, you destroy black women first. They are the center.

[randys1]

6. The attacks of Michelle. The name calling. I ignore the assholes for the most part

because all they do is lie, say racist shit, and make life miserable for everyone around them (teaparty, etc).

there is still one thing that will piss me off when one of these assholes says it, and that is call Michelle a name, i wont list the names, we all know them.

[rbrnmw]

4. My friend Shirley had her tubes tied

She had an "emergency" c-section and didn't consent to tubal ligation at 23 second child. She kept wondering why she wasn't getting pregnant in her early 30's. She had married and was considered upper middle class so she went to infertility counseling and found out. I don't know if she ever really got to sue but she said she met women who share her story. Also forced hysterectomies.

[JustAnotherGen]

7. Ohhhh!

This is heartbreaking!

[Spazito]

5. Society has put a 'value' on women, especially on black women, that is of a much lesser...

'value' than men. There is little thought put to reducing and even removing any rights black women might have, little thought to providing the same resources and support because of that devaluation, imo.

The laws, policies and practices are instituted to be discriminatory, again, because of that devaluation and, imo, it's foundation lies with inherent racism, sexism and classism, all of which have, in substance, changed little over time.

It is, at best, one step forward, two steps back in many ways.