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I see some (white) repro people dismissing this piece and I'm really frustrated. This is thoughtful critique of the repro rights movement, and I really hope people sit with it and think about how the movement can shift. There are holes, but it's telling. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/30/us/politics/abortion-supreme-court-gen-z.html
I was interviewed by @emmabgo, and although my quotes didn't make it in, much of what I said is visible. When I had my abortion at 19, like Cynthia I didn't run to a pro-choice march. I didn't see myself reflected in the movement—age or race-wise. This is why I do the work I do.
Previously, I worked in the queer youth movement which was shifting in focus at the time to include racial justice, housing insecurity, gender expansiveness, school push-out, etc because that's what the lives of queer look like. I first shared my abortion story during that time.
I worked with several queer people who also had abortions, and something one of them said has always stuck with me, "I don't think or give a fuck about my abortion. I was homeless. I was a survivor. I was transitioning. My abortion was a moment and a thing I had to do."
For a lot of people—folks of color—having access to an abortion is important, but not the most significant thing in our lives. We're dealing with it along with a lot of things. Fighting for abortion is important, and for some there's a more urgent need of shootings on the block.
For some, having an abortion is a thing we have to do and then deal with the other pressing issues. While for other people, having an abortion is a life changing moment. Most people don't have abortions as teens, but in their 20s & already parenting. There are different focuses.
“For many activists, we have a calling, a realm of work we want to pursue because of our own personal experiences,” Fatimata Cham, 19, said. Again, the reality is that most people don't think about abortion until they need one. Yet repro touches everything in our lives.
I said in my interview, it feels like for a lot of white women, trying to get an abortion is the first time they're told 'no', whereas being a woman of color you grow up being told no your entire life. Not having access to contraception & abortion is just one more 'no' hurdle.
The title, 'I Can’t Focus on Abortion Access if My People Are Dying’, feels very real to me. There are days I've said it myself as white folks in repro move forward with meetings as if nothing else is going on. If I feel that way inside the movement, it's palpable outside of it.
This is also ignorant and dismissive. Yes, we can do both, and the point they're making is that they want to do both and the reproductive rights movement isn't doing both so they made a choice and chose to fight for other issues first. https://twitter.com/LuxAlptraum/status/1277937574980583427?s=20
Ask most Black and Brown folks in the repro movement how hard we've had to fight over the last 7 years to get the repro health and rights organizations to show up meaningfully for racial justice and the movement for Black lives. We're doing both. Not everyone is.
“It felt grounded in the ’70s feminist movement. And it felt like, I can’t focus on abortion access if my people are dying. The narrative around abortion access wasn’t made for people from the hood.”
@Karnythia's Hood Feminism makes this point clearly. White feminists, read it.
@Karnythia's Hood Feminism makes this point clearly. White feminists, read it.
This is the point of the entire interview—people are already dying. The young women of color in the interview are saying their people are already dying from police brutality, intimate partner violence, gun violence—including in schools—and more. https://twitter.com/WRRAP/status/1277956922575110144?s=20
And, the "people will die if Roe falls" messaging is exactly what the folks in the interview say turns them off—and it's not actually accurate. People are being criminalized for illegal abortions, not dying. The conversation needs to catch up. https://www.vox.com/first-person/2019/5/18/18630514/missouri-alabama-abortion-ban-2019-racism
It literally talks about the fact that race needs to be centered in repro in the article—that means criminalization and how our reproductive decisions, sexuality, all of those things are racialized. Much of the pre-Roe conversation leaves us out—in conversation & in pictures.
I do have critiques of the piece—while it mentions reproductive justice, it doesn't cite the folks doing that work, particularly with young people. Folks should look to the young people organizing repro at @URGE_org, @AdvocatesTweets, @JanesDueProcess, @ICAH, and abortion funds.
Young people sharing their abortion stories and organizing like @jessyzuko are the reason California will have medication abortion available at public college health centers.
Young people like @HKGrayTx are testifying about abortion access, being a teen parent, & homelessness.
Young people like @HKGrayTx are testifying about abortion access, being a teen parent, & homelessness.
Just last night @veronikagranado testified before the Texas Board of Education about the sex ed at her high school and why the status quo needs to change. https://twitter.com/ellepolloloca/status/1277861941025759234?s=21
As I told @emmabgo, the reason we started @AbortionStories was because we needed to elevate the voices of people whose abortion stories intersect with other parts of their lives like immigration, queerness, and more. As the Lorde said, we don't live single issue lives.
When I started in abortion work, I didn't see myself represented so I started something new and built it. There was a lot of discouragement and dismissal of what I wanted to do from older white women. I kept at it because a few people believed in me. But not everyone has support.
The importance of including young people's voices in abortion rights was so evident that it's one of the many reasons @AbortionStories & @AdvocatesTweets created Youth Testify, a leadership program for 14-25 yo.
Psst! We're recruiting for our next cohort!
https://advocatesforyouth.wufoo.com/forms/r13dcq0d0kdhxsh/
Psst! We're recruiting for our next cohort!
https://advocatesforyouth.wufoo.com/forms/r13dcq0d0kdhxsh/
I think repro spaces are changing—but it needs to happen faster. The young people I work with aren't excited by the conferences because frankly they don't address issues they're working on.
I wish the piece mentioned @CLPPtweets which has a fabulous conference for young folks.
I wish the piece mentioned @CLPPtweets which has a fabulous conference for young folks.
Just a few days ago @palexa_dria wrote in @Rewire_News about the young people taking over TikTok to make videos to educate hundreds of thousands of people about abortion access and reproductive justice. https://rewire.news/article/2020/06/24/on-tiktok-gen-z-takes-on-trump-and-abortion-lies/?fbclid=IwAR2V10rJ9bSeji8ksIA9_sO_Cv-ou9P1Ir_6YcNknMYfBrccmCFAkb-bwjE
But again, it's a representation of what young people on the outside see and are invited into. Most repro rights organizations are not doing this.
As long as a large part of the movement doesn't invest in young people, don't be surprised when they're turned off.
As long as a large part of the movement doesn't invest in young people, don't be surprised when they're turned off.
Even the repro issues young people are facing—sex ed, push out of young parents, parental involvement laws, later abortion, inability to pay for care—are/have been sidelined by mainstream repro organizations. Orgs endorse "pro-choice" candidates that support parental involvement!
"There’s a need to protect the wins of the generation before us,” @Deja_Foxx said. But she believes the conversations that engage members of her generation look different. “My story is about birth control access as a young person who didn’t have access to insurance.”
I think it's normal to feel a bit defensive about the piece—in the 10 years I've been in the repro movement, I've heard time and time again from older white women, "where are the young people?" even as I was in my mid-20s presenting to them. It's insulting. And we get pushed out.
I want those who feel defensive when reading this piece to really sit with what Brea Baker said in her interview, "How can we reframe it so it feels like a young woman’s fight?”
There are many folks already doing it, and we have a ways to go. That means changing decision-makers.
There are many folks already doing it, and we have a ways to go. That means changing decision-makers.
One last thought I'll leave with is a commonality of the other movements mentioned in the article—most of those movements are being led by young people, particularly young people of color. There aren't many decision-making seats in mainstream repro organizations for young people.
I mean, I was on a large repro board for three years and I was the youngest board member, and they considered me you (and sometimes patronized me as such) and I was THIRTY.
Young people deserve to lead in our movement. They need to see themselves in meaningful leadership.
Young people deserve to lead in our movement. They need to see themselves in meaningful leadership.
Ensuring young people are at the table is critical as we think about who speaks for, makes decisions for, and leads our movement right now.
We cannot continue to organize solely based on memories of the past while ignoring the plight of young people & people of color right now.
We cannot continue to organize solely based on memories of the past while ignoring the plight of young people & people of color right now.
