Spring 2006 Alumnae Quarterly Web Extra
Building a Better World for Women
The essay below was the runner-up in the 2005 Alumnae Quarterly magazine essay contest, in which entrants were asked to write about one thing that would make life better for women around the world today and how this might become reality.
Beyond Freedom of Choice: In Search of Reproductive Justice
By Diana J. Huet de Guerville ’96
As a dedicated advocate for reproductive rights, I dream of a world where all women have full control over their own bodies, along with the socio-economic resources that will guarantee them a full range of choices in their sexual and reproductive lives.
This vision goes far beyond a struggle for abortion rights. Instead, I dream of reproductive justice, whereby all women have access to reproductive health services, fully realized human rights, and the economic conditions that enable a full range of choices.
Many of the advancements in women’s status the world over can be directly attributed to women’s ability to manage their fertility through increased access to contraception and safe, legal abortion. Yet the world’s most vulnerable women continue to lack access to the full range of reproductive health services that would enable them to live healthy lives and participate fully in society. From a social-justice perspective, it is clear that factors such as poverty, race, age, immigration status, sexual orientation, and the social context in which women live their lives greatly influence their ability to exercise their reproductive rights.
For example, though abortion has been legal in the United States since 1973, for many young or poor women, having a “right to choose” has become meaningless in practice. There is no federal funding for abortion except in extreme cases, and only sixteen states will pay for abortion services through Medicaid. Young women also face parental-notification laws in many states, requiring them to obtain the consent of one or both parents—or go to court to seek a judge’s approval—before obtaining an abortion. And since more than 86 percent of U.S. counties have no abortion provider, it makes no difference to women in rural areas that abortion is legal if the closest clinic is hundreds of miles away. Laws on their own do not guarantee access.
Basic family-planning services such as contraception and sex education are much less available to poor women, yet if they carry pregnancies to term they face punitive measures in the form of welfare caps seeking to limit the number of children they bear. Women of color in the United States have also been the targets of shameful government sterilization campaigns, and continue to face pressure to limit their fertility and the imposition of long-term contraceptive methods such as Norplant. The right to have children has therefore become just as critical as the right to abortion. Significant cuts to the social safety net have also meant that, even as abortion has become less accessible, fewer women (especially immigrants) have access to prenatal care or Medicaid for themselves or their children. Ironically, the states that place the most restrictions on abortion also provide the fewest resources for family-planning services and children’s well-being, suggesting that concern for the unborn is not always at the heart of efforts to limit abortion. Rather, anti-choice policies are motivated by the drive to control women’s sexuality and promote a return to traditional gender roles.
Outside of the United States, a number of countries continue to outlaw abortion, often with tragic consequences for the women who must resort to “back-alley” providers. To make matters worse, on his first day in office, President Bush reinstated the global “gag rule,” which prohibits international family-planning programs from discussing abortion in any capacity if they wish to receive U.S. funds. As a result, nongovernmental organizations that refuse to be silenced have lost critical resources needed to provide important reproductive health services for the world’s poorest women, such as access to contraception and information about sexually transmitted infections and protection methods. At the same time, women in developing countries have also been the targets of population control and coercive sterilization practices, which rob them of autonomy over their reproductive lives. Though education and real economic opportunities are correlated to reduced birth rates and improved quality of life for the entire family, women across the world must instead continue to struggle against punitive efforts to control their reproduction and sexuality.
In order to bring an end to these injustices, we need to create a social context that guarantees reproductive freedom to all women, so that every woman has a real choice as to whether or not to bring a child into this world. Reproductive rights must go hand in hand with human rights and economic justice. As such, we must not only ensure that abortion is legal and accessible the world over, but also that all women who choose that option can do so willingly and without economic hardship. Women will therefore need access to universal health care systems that will fully fund the whole range of reproductive-health services, ranging from abortion and contraception to prenatal care and fertility treatments. We must also eliminate all coercive sterilization and population control efforts, in the United States and abroad, and fight for the right of all women to bear children and raise them with dignity. To that end, countries must establish or strengthen social safety nets to provide for the needs of women and families, and to ensure that women who do choose motherhood can continue to fully participate in the economic, social, and civic life of the nation.
My daily struggles to advocate for reproductive rights constantly remind me how far away we are from this idealistic vision. Yet women’s movements have already brought incredible advancements in politics, social relations, and the workplace, which gives me great faith in the power of feminist grassroots mobilization. And despite the widespread perception of youth complacency, my work with college activists has demonstrated to me that young people are increasingly taking up the fight for women’s rights. The main challenge will be to ensure that our struggle is broad, inclusive, and holistic, so that we are truly organizing across lines of race, class, and nationality. When we can all join together for the advancement of social, economic, and reproductive rights for all women, my dream of reproductive justice may just become reality.
