Collective Care: Community-Based Practices in Reproductive Justice

The mainstream reproductive rights movement tends to focus on abortion and contraceptive freedom. The movement has historically 1) been led by cisgender, White women, and 2) only addressed autonomy in reference to the “choice” to not have children. Reproductive justice (RJ), which has emerged in recent years, is both a framework for understanding inequality in reproductive rights, and a movement that fights to make visible the particular needs of women of color and queer folks. RJ operates largely through community-led work, which separates it from national campaigns and organizations that take a more top-down approach to their work. This thesis asks: how do community-based initiatives promote the fight for RJ? The ethnographic project draws from Black feminist and intersectionality theory, participant observation and interviews with various RJ organizations and activists, and digital content analysis of different organizations’ social media platforms to explore the relationship between community and the RJ movement. Particular attention is paid to the ways in which community-based organizations that ground their operational strategies in the RJ framework offer a space for folks from marginalized racial and gender identities to advocate for themselves. Furthermore, the thesis sheds light on the way that the inclusivity of the RJ framework makes it valuable in potentially expanding beyond sexual and reproductive rights to other social justice issues.