How does the activism of women of color alter and/or strengthen the politics of reproductive rights?

Women of color not only have survived but they have transformed dramatically the political panorama. Women of color are feminist fighters, multi-racial, with same goals: to fight against the historical social justice and make a society where they are also visible. They are knowledgeable in explaining oppressions that benefit other but not the women. Women of color strengthen politics by unifying to a common cause and making a change. Additionally, they are capable of acting quickly and precisely when it matters the most. The same way they did when the politics of reproductive rights was in turmoil by confronting the tumultuous sexism, and a white supremacist society. The involvement of activist women of color in the politics of reproductive rights resulted in the way for autonomous women of color organizations, the contextual reproductive history, and------ which made reproductive rights different and eventually stronger.

3 responses to Anti-Abortion Movement: paved the way for autonomous women of color organizations. The mainstream pro- choice, the reproductive rights’ movement, and the women’s health movement became the three major organizations to make/alter the future development for women of color into creating their own organizations. Each organization uniquely altered the politics of reproductive rights by giving women of color strength to overcome their long struggles. The mainstream pro-choice movement became the “leader” movement following the Roe v. Wade decision, in which the main focus was to support the right for women to choose what to do with their bodies over the decision of when to have an abortion. Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL) became the most prominent among the organizations of the pro-choice movement in where several women of color participated as activists in these organizations. Although some women of color like Faye Wattlenton and Emily Tynes were the face of the movement by holding high positions for several years, many other women of color believed the movement did not transmit the real issue of the reproductive rights. Women of color did not see abortion as the only issue of the reproductive justice, but instead, an issue that goes along racism, poverty, and sexism (pg. 4). Ultimately women of color saw the pro-choice movement as a white- dominated movement that centered solely on abortion rights and did not advocate for their rights as a whole (pg. 30), adding to the invisibility of their long history. In contrast to the pro-choice movement, the reproductive rights movement headed by the Committee for Abortion Rights and Against Sterilization Abuse (CARASA), founded in 1976 became that organization to linked health and reproductive rights to the social justices (pg. 16) by incorporating abortion and sterilization together. CARASA’s objective was to give low-income women and women of color access to end sterilization abuse which women of color saw as a long struggle of white supremacy. CARASA was successful at guaranteeing for all women to reproductive autonomy which gave women of color