reproductive justice

Being a white middle class female I can’t understand what it would feel like to be denied the ability to give birth, be a mother and raise a child. It seems like a universal experience that most women have the ability to share. The truth is that in many countries and societies this natural right is denied to certain groups. Eugenics is the extreme form of limiting certain group’s ability to procreate. In happens in subtler terms in the United States. Compulsorily sterilization is not a public policy like has been in the past. Controlling who has the ability to reproduce and who doesn’t is just another way that WASP patriarchy enforces its power. Society wants to make more babies that fit into the cultural norms. Black women, illiterate women, Hispanic women, poor women, drug addict women, lesbian women. All of these women do not enjoy the privilege that white middle class heterosexual women have; even the natural ability to be a mother. The language that the welfare policy was written in reveals that our society’s problems lie within the moral fabric of this country. Morals start with families. Pushing for family values is a huge issue with the conservative right. TANF was written so that heterosexual monogamous marriages would be the norm and therefore the ones to receive help from the government. Through welfare black women, Hispanic women, illiterate women, single mothers have all been singled out. They are not viewed as legitimate mothers who will instill the moral convictions of the conservative right on their children. Therefore they have been denied the access to their motherhood and even dissuaded from having children. In terms of other reproductive rights these women are called killers for having an abortion. They are called irresponsible. They are sent to jail. This would never happen to white middle class women. The fact that homosexual parents are looked down upon; that welfare says children in single parent homes will have problems; that Hispanic women are stereotyped as having too many babies to take care of; these are all indicators that our society has a narrow view of what is ok in terms of morals; of who is a legitimate mother.