Loretta Ross, one of the guest editors of the issue, and a member of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective, defines reproductive justice this way:

• the right to have a child;
• the right not to have a child;
• the right to parent the children we have
  
• the right to control our own birthing options

Her article does a beautiful job of broadening the conversation surrounding reproductive and sexual rights, calling on us to articulate the overarching values that lead us to a pro-choice position. “Reproductive justice,” she writes, “focuses on the ends [rather than the means]: better lives for women, healthier families, and sustainable communities.” Thinking in terms of reproductive justice “draws attention to cultural and socio-economic inequalities because everyone does not have equal opportunity to participate in society’s cultural discourses or public policy and economic values, such as abortion, midwifery, or mothering.”

I read Ross’ article, “Understanding Reproductive Justice: Transforming the Pro-Choice Movement,” just a few days after reading a lovely essay, “Being a Radical Doula,” by a Maria Perez, a young woman who works as a doula supporting women during pregnancy, childbirth, and early motherhood. In “Being a Radical Doula,” Perez articulates the fundamental connection between her pro-choice politics and her passion for working with pregnant and birthing women.

Both of these articles came across my desk just when I needed them, after several long weeks of going back and forth with anti-abortion folks about the abortion ban. It’s wonderful to know there are other people out there working hard to create a world in which reproductive justice is a basic human right for all.

And I keep thinking . . . perhaps in my grannyhood, I’ll become a radical, activist midwife myself!