Moving From Despair to Action

“Let this radicalize you rather than lead you to despair.”—Mariame Kaba

Mariame Kaba's words remind us that the devastating Dobbs v. Jackson's Women's Health Organization decision of June 2022 is a call to action. Efforts to deny bodily autonomy to so many women, transgender, and gender-expansive people in the United States are not new. In 1976, the Hyde amendment set the current direction by denying the right to abortion to people on Medicaid. As denial of access to essential reproductive health services was legitimated in the years that followed, accessing such services in hospitals and clinics throughout the United States became increasingly difficult. Hospitals and health care workers—from nurses, to doctors, to anesthesiologists—were empowered to refuse to provide abortions as “conscientious objectors.” The politicization of this health procedure has been especially problematic for people faced with a late-term abortion. Transgender and gender-expansive people have been completely excluded from consideration with regard to reproductive rights. And in some places where trans-inclusive health services had begun to take hold, the abortion rights crisis has diverted resources from these services—seriously reducing or eliminating the few resources available for low- or no-cost trans-inclusive services.

While the mainstream media treats the June Supreme Court decision as unexpected and unprecedented, the writing has been on the wall long before the leaked memo on the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and is part of a carefully crafted long-term political strategy. Anti-abortion groups have coordinated with and benefited from conservative political efforts to limit voting rights (particularly for women of color), pass restrictive abortion laws (such as Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers or TRAP laws), and get anti-abortion judges appointed to federal courts (Neuman, 2022; Shivaram, 2022).

Now more than ever, social workers must move beyond a rights-based approach to reproductive health. This imperative starts with an honest reckoning with the state of abortion access under Roe v. Wade. Feminists of color have long contended that the right to an abortion does not guarantee access to an abortion. The Dobbs decision follows decades of uneven access to abortion services for minoritized groups such as low-income people, people of color, people with disabilities, and undocumented people. Today, reproductive justice groups such as SisterSong (Georgia) and We Are Jane (Chicago) are calling for a justice-based approach, whereby all people have the right to bodily autonomy, to have or to not have children, and to parent the children they have in safe and sustainable communities. Articulating a message capturing the magnitude of the latest policy rollbacks while acknowledging long-standing inequities in reproductive rights and access is a challenge. At this moment, action feels so much more urgent than mere words.

One form of action that we as Affilia can take is to contribute to the conscientization needed for this moment. As many of our readers already know, we have been expanding our knowledge production beyond our journal pages to new forums such as a Critical Feminisms Roundtable webinar series. Our most recent webinar in this series, held on April 9, 2022, and titled Social Work, Critical Feminisms & Reproductive Justice, reframed reproductive rights under the construct of reproductive justice. As the panelists emphasized, a critical feminist reframing that moves us forward in this moment demands a perspective that is expansive, intersectional, trans-inclusive, and considerate of the rights of children. Many of the participants in this webinar recently published relevant articles in Affilia, including “From Abortion Rights to Reproductive Justice: A Call to Action” (Goldblatt Hyatt et al., 2022), “Examining Social Work Students’ Knowledge of and Attitudes About Abortion and Curriculum Coverage in Social Work Education” (Witt et al., 2022), and “Barriers to Achieving Reproductive Justice for an Indigenous Gulf Coast Tribe” (Liddell & Doria, 2022). This webinar and others in the series serve as a launching point for a new perspective that can free us from the trap of binary political framing. To view this and other webinars in the series, see the Affilia: Feminist Inquiry in Social Work YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLcIBDdliLqV0WoJbMp2zlw).

Following the Dobbs decision, Affilia Editorial Board members shared ideas, observations, and resources to honor the ongoing feminist struggle to define and expand reproductive rights. Amidst the ongoing efforts to restrict and deny our right to control our bodies and our lives, we are reminded that:

Reproductive justice is part of our ancestral lineage and journey toward healing. Our struggle for reproductive rights extends back generations—women, transgender, and gender-expansive people with the capacity for pregnancy have always been active and creative in the control of our bodies and reproductive freedoms. We have also remained resistant and resilient in the face of ongoing attacks.

The struggle for reproductive justice has centered and must continue to center intergenerational organizing and action. This means recognizing and supporting bold and courageous organizing by young people. For example, one young organizer pedaled her bike to hold impromptu educational sessions on sex, consent, and reproductive rights in a local park. The Advocates for Youth's Youth Abortion Support Collective and Abortion Out Loud campaign use storytelling and grassroots organizing to build community and youth-led engagement around abortion. Such approaches include bringing children into conversations about reproductive justice, reproductive rights, and bodily autonomy.

Each attack (and we can expect more) is an opportunity for reframing and organizing. This means that we must continuously challenge ourselves and others to think more expansively about what reproductive justice means, whether that be access to fertility treatment, adoption rights, ending state surveillance of low-income families of color, or fighting eugenic (racist, classist, and ableist) practices and policies. It means challenging cis-gender essentialism—expanding our vision of reproduction and reproductive rights to be fully trans-inclusive and trans-affirming.

We must identify, strengthen, and support the resources, informal and formal, which have been a part of the reproductive justice network and continue to build as we creatively face changing conditions. The resources shared below represent only a part of this growing resource network. The new policy environment has also encouraged strategies such as creating and participating in mutual aid hubs, moving abortion clinics just across state lines to stay open and ensure continued access to those neighboring states banning abortion procedures, and enhancing reproductive options available through the mail and other non-clinic channels.

Local, national, and global solidarity has mobilized critical support across borders—expanding political solidarity, global pressures, and cross-border networking to strengthen access to reproductive options. For example, feminist allies and advocates in Canada and Mexico have prepared for the influx of people seeking reproductive services from the U.S., and protesters across the globe have linked their struggle for reproductive rights to those in the United States and other countries.

In the immediate aftermath of the June decision, we shared a message that Affilia's Editorial Assistant, Sam Harrell, sent to their social work students the day of the Dobbs decision. Their message presents not only a wealth of resources but, perhaps more significantly, an essential tone of discernment, fortitude, and everyday radical activism. We offer a slightly edited version of the message here:

Hi Class,

In light of today's announcement that the Supreme Court has officially overturned Roe v. Wade—the Constitutional right to have an abortion—I want to share some resources that may be of interest to you, your loved ones, and your clients.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed…

Whatever you are feeling is okay. Know that while the media will present this as unexpected, reproductive justice advocates have been preparing for this moment since the day Roe v. Wade passed. And they’ve been intensively preparing since Trump took office. Mariame Kaba (@prisonculture) said today to unfollow people who are saying we are doomed. There are so many people coming together right now and working to keep people safe. Join them.

If you’re not sure what this means for where you live…

For state-by-state updates: https://www.abortionfinder.org/abortion-guides-by-state

For global abortion law updates: https://reproductiverights.org/maps/worlds-abortion-laws/

Staying up to date on your state's status can help prevent misinformation.

If you’re not sure what to do next…

Explore Robin Marty's handbook, Post-Roe America: The Complete Guide to Abortion Legality, Access, and Practical Support at Seven Stories Press https://www.sevenstories.com/books/4280-the-new-handbook-for-a-post-roe-america

Learn about the history of underground abortions. We’ve been here before. The Jane Collective is a great place to start. You can learn about their work in this zine: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mcMzlkGtEAqVxIeUB1xj_TxShXyqF3kF/view and in the HBO Max documentary, The Janes https://www.hbo.com/movies/the-janes, and in this Democracy Now video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-27P9YQX9rc.

Abortion has always existed and always will. Learn about its history. Here is a comic exploring the 4,000-year-old history of abortions: https://thenib.com/4-000-years-of-abortion-history/

Help share accurate information. Many people think abortion is restricted more than it actually is. Help people access correct information and use your media and research literacy skills to help people interpret sources.

Donate or plan a fundraiser (even a small one among friends) to help people in red states access and pay for abortions. Advocates recommend donating to local abortion funds as much as possible. Find your state's funds here: https://abortionfunds.org/need-abortion/

If you or someone you know needs access to abortion…

• Where to get a surgical abortion: abortionfinder.org

• Where to get abortion medication: plancpills.org

• Abortion Resource Map & Personal Abortion Safety Plan: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/61d5f5044053d03df3003693/t/62b21de263fdc103fe070b07/1655840242630/Abortion + Resources + Map + and + Safety + Plan

• How to fund an abortion: abortionfunds.org/need-abortion

• Legal advice: reprolegalhelpline.org or [phone]

• Legal rights: https://www.reprolegalhelpline.org/sma-know-your-rights/

• Medical advice: call or text the Miscarriage & Abortion Hotline at [phone]

As we write this editorial, we are buoyed by the resounding defeat of a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution that would have eliminated abortion rights there. The main reproductive rights group working to counter the draconian amendment, Kansas for Constitutional Freedom, reclaimed the language of liberty and freedom that has been monopolized by the right wing. As one ad explained, the proposed anti-abortion amendment would give “government more power over your privacy and your personal medical decisions.” It continued, “Don't let politicians take away your freedom.” While approaches that reclaim the rhetoric of freedom may imply “freedom from government” and thus risk contradicting arguments for government-funded social supports, this public rejection of anti-abortion policy underscores ways that critical feminists can subvert the tactics of the Right. The current struggle within the ideological terrain of freedom builds on public sentiment that politicians should have no role in health care decisions. These arguments also call upon us to consider how to build upon frameworks of liberation while continuing to demand that government play a powerful role in enabling care and providing supports in the context of the grassroots participatory democracy to which we aspire.

This latest attack is a devastating reminder of the persisting power of white supremacist heteropatriarchy. It also calls out the inadequacy of a feminist strategy limited to a narrow reproductive rights framework focused on abortion only. Long-term reproductive justice strategies center on those so often excluded from mainstream reproductive rights agendas—people of color, queer, transgender and gender-expansive people, those from poor and immigrant communities, and people with disabilities. These groups have centuries-long legacies of critical feminist struggle to ensure reproductive rights and access. This continuing work, while so often hidden, shows us that knowledge production, policy demands, and creative practices to expand reproductive justice and bodily autonomy are in full force. These examples call on all of us to move from despair to action and remind us of how so many have been doing just that.