What is Reproductive Justice?

"Reproductive Justice 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. This definition as outlined by Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice (ACRJ) offers a new perspective on reproductive issues advocacy, pointing out that for Indigenous women and women of color it is important to fight equally for (1) the right to have a child; (2) the right not to have a child; and (3) the right to parent the children we have, as well as to control our birthing options, such as midwifery. We also fight for the necessary enabling conditions to realize these rights. This is in contrast to the singular focus on abortion by the prochoice movement that excludes other social justice movements.

The Reproductive Justice framework analyzes how the ability of any woman to determine her own reproductive destiny is linked directly to the conditions in her community—and these conditions are not just a matter of individual choice and access. Reproductive Justice addresses the social reality of inequality, specifically, the inequality of opportunities that we have to control our reproductive destiny. Moving beyond a demand for privacy and respect for individual decision making to include the social supports necessary for our individual decisions to
be optimally realized, this framework also includes obligations from our government for protecting women’s human rights. Our options for making choices have to be safe, affordable and accessible, three minimal cornerstones of government support for all individual life decisions."

(Source: Ross L. What Is Reproductive Justice? Reproductive Justice Briefing Book: A Primer On Reproductive Justice and Social Change. 2007;4 [PDF])

“Reproductive Justice” vs. “Reproductive Rights”

“The World Health Organization (WHO) defines reproductive health as the state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, in all matters relating to the reproductive system and to its functions and processes. Reproductive Justice is the complete physical, mental, spiritual, political, social, and economic wellbeing of women and girls, based on the full achievement and protection of women’s human rights. While these concepts are similar, the latter was an approach that grew out of the need to better articulate the language and realities of women of color as it related to sexual and reproductive health issues. The current U.S. reproductive health agenda is polarized to a choice or abortion issue without any alignment to other issues that predominantly impact women of color within the reproductive health framework. This article acknowledges the history and challenges of reproductive health and rights, while offering a non-polarized, more inclusive ethical course of action, using an optimal health approach with new alliances for the reproductive justice movement today.”

(Source: Onwuachi-Saunders, C., Dang, Q. P., & Murray, J. (2019). Reproductive Rights, Reproductive Justice: Redefining Challenges to Create Optimal Health for All Women. Journal of healthcare, science and the humanities, 9(1), 19–31.)