The Students for Law, Justice & Culture at Ohio University are creating a collaborative zine representing the many different aspects of reproductive justice.
SLJC President Rachel Broughton says that the project is inspired by Sistersong, a women of color reproductive justice collective.
The zine will accept works about a plethora of topics, like reproductive justice and environmental exposure, reproductive politics, reproductive justice and access to resources, LGBTQ+ health, obstetric violence, food security, and so much more.
Anyone is free to submit essays, artwork, poetry, and personal experiences to the zine.
The SisterSong website provides historical background and context on the Reproductive Justice movement:
“Indigenous women, women of color, and trans* people have always fought for Reproductive Justice, but the term was invented in 1994. Right before attending the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, where the entire world agreed that the individual right to plan your own family must be central to global development, a group of black women gathered in Chicago in June of 1994.
They recognized that the women’s rights movement, led by and representing middle class and wealthy white women, could not defend the needs of women of color and other marginalized women and trans* people. We needed to lead our own national movement to uplift the needs of the most marginalized women, families, and communities.
These women named themselves Women of African Descent for Reproductive Justice, and RJ was born. Rooted in the internationally-accepted human rights framework created by the United Nations, Reproductive Justice combines reproductive rights and social justice.
The progenitors of RJ launched the movement by publishing a historic full-page statement with 800+ signatures in The Washington Post and Roll Call. Just three years later, in 1997, SisterSong was formed to create a national, multi-ethnic RJ movement.”
To be a part of the zine, please send your work to SLJCzine@gmail.com.
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