The newly released anthology, Radical Reproductive Justice, illustrates the ways in which the battle for reproductive rights is fundamentally linked to combating systemic oppression rooted in sexism and white supremacy. Join us for this conversation moderated by journalist and editor, Linda Villarosa, along with book editors Loretta Ross and Lynn Roberts, womanist scholar Toni Bond Leonard, and doulas Morgane Richardson and Rina Crane.
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Linda Villarosa runs the journalism program at The City College of New York where she teaches writing, race and reporting and media studies. She is a former executive editor of Essence magazine and currently a contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine. Her next Times magazine article will examine maternal mortality and reproductive justice.
Loretta J. Ross is a human and women's rights activist and co-founder of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective. Ross is one of the creators of the term "Reproductive Justice," which envelops human rights and social justice into one movement. Ross is also the co-author of Undivided Rights: Women of Color Organize for Reproductive Justice and author of "The Color of Choice" chapter in Incite! Women of Color Against Violence.
Lynn Roberts is an assistant professor in the Department of Community Health and Social Sciences at the City University of New York's Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy. Prior to joining CUNY, she oversaw the development, implementation, and evaluation of several prevention programs for women and youth in NYC. She has also served on the board of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective.
Morgane Richardson is a DONA Certified Doula, Childbirth Educator, and Certified Breastfeeding Counselor. She is currently the Director of the NYC Doula Collective, Morgane serves as the LGBTQIA+ Liaison to the DONA Intercultural Committee.
Rina Crane is an advanced certified doula through DONA International and a 2015 Fellow of the Academy of Certified Childbirth Educators. She is a founding member of the NYC Doula Collective, where she is still an advisor and coordinator. Rina is currently serving as the Intercultural Director on the DONA International Board of Directors.
Toni Bond Leonard is a womanist scholar and ethicist completing her PhD in religion, ethics, and society at Claremont School of Theology in California. She is also the director of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice’s Theologies of Reproductive Justice initiative. She is one of the founding mothers of the reproductive justice movement and has worked in the reproductive health, rights, and justice movements for more than 25 years.
About Radical Reproductive Justice:
This anthology assembles two decades’ of work initiated by SisterSong Women of Color Health Collective, creators of the human rights-based “reproductive justice” framework to move beyond polarized pro-choice/pro-life debates. Rooted in Black feminism and built on intersecting identities, this revolutionary framework asserts a woman's right to have children, to not have children, and to parent and provide for the children they have.
“Radical Reproductive Justice closes the theory/practice gap by placing the transforming principle of reproductive justice within the working knowledge of anyone who reads it. A game changer.”
