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Reproductive Justice and A Comprehensive Social Justice Ethic

By Reverend Carlton W. Veazey, President and CEO, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
This essay appears in "Dispatches from the Religious Left," a volume of diverse views on "the future of faith and politics in America," edited by Frederick Clarkson and published by Ig Publishing, Brooklyn, New York. Available from www.amazon.com

It is time for the progressive faith community to affirm reproductive justice as inseparable from all of our social justice concerns.

Probably the most insidious strategy of the Religious Right has been to use reproductive rights as a wedge issue to divide progressives, and we have not handled this as well as we might have. Fortunately, there is a framework that I believe can help us to overcome our divisions and become better, more effective advocates for our values. This model, the reproductive justice framework, is an idea that resonates broadly across our culture and deeply within our faith traditions and offers religious progressives the opportunity to take a fresh look at reproductive issues and incorporate them into a "Religious Left" agenda.

This is a logical and necessary step in the development of a consistent progressive ethic because reproductive justice underlies and is connected to many of the social justice concerns that progressive religions espouse. In addition, the conditions to achieve reproductive justice are virtually the same as those in other priority areas of interest to the "Religious Left": universal health care, the eradication of hunger, eliminating violence, reducing income disparities, improving environmental quality, and increasing security through peace at home and abroad, some of which will be addressed in this essay. I believe that including reproductive justice among these concerns will address the issues of many people who are now not receptive to a “Religious Left” agenda.

The California-based organization Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice1, which developed this framework, stipulates that reproductive justice is inherently connected to the struggle for social justice and human rights. There are two main modes of thought that reproductive justice incorporates: “reproductive health” emphasizes the necessary health care services that women need and “reproductive rights” emphasizes universal legal protections such as Roe v. Wade. The reproductive justice framework addresses structural barriers to reproductive health and rights (restrictive laws and lack of access, for example) and envisions the complete physical, mental, and spiritual well-being of all people. It is a broad and compelling concept: it says that reproductive justice will be achieved when all people have the economic, social, and political power and resources to make healthy decisions about their bodies, sexuality, and reproduction.

The prospect of reproductive justice is hopeful – as contrasted with being mired in irresolvable debates about abortion or singling out "pieces of a woman's body" (as Evelyn Shen of Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice says). This framework opens up a deeper discussion that allows us to connect traditional religious concerns such as poverty, violence, hunger, poor healthcare, unequal educational opportunities, and gender and racial/ethnic inequality to reproductive issues. Reproductive justice may be the guiding principle that will allow us, at last, to be able to convey a theological basis, from our respective religious traditions, for public policies that enable women to make reproductive decisions, including decisions for abortion, as well as for providing the health, educational and other resources for healthy and wanted pregnancies and strong families.

Here are some sound reasons for the "Religious Left" to include reproductive justice on its agenda:
• Connecting the issues makes each stronger: Keeping the focus limited to abortion and what is termed the unborn child is a barrier to addressing broader justice issues such as poverty alleviation, universal health care, and child development. For example, the growing environmental health movement is raising awareness about the dangers of chemical exposure to male fertility and to pregnant women, developing fetuses, and young children . (Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, “Reproductive Rights in an Era of Toxic Chemicals,” Perspectives #2, March 27, 2006) As Sister Joan Chittister writes,2 a nation that considers itself religious would want to provide "the corporal works of mercy" such as healthcare, housing, food and clean water. "After all, food and education and decent housing and support services are exactly the things that take the strain off families and make abortion unnecessary," she writes.

• Removing barriers to progress: The intensity around the abortion issue has been a barrier to making progress in expanding access to birth control and family planning, funding comprehensive and medically accurate sex education in public schools, and developing and marketing improved forms of contraception. Consequently, the United States has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates, unintended pregnancy rates and abortion rates among industrialized countries and an epidemic of sexually transmitted infections that affects the ability to have children and increases the risk of serious diseases such as cervical cancer.

• Increasing understanding of “values”: The misperception in 2004 that abortion was a chief concern of "values voters" has had negative consequences for women's health issues, which are connected to other social justice issues. Too many politicians took this fallacious interpretation of the vote as permission to retreat from safeguarding legal abortion and supporting measures to protect women's health. Several ill-conceived legislative proposals were introduced that focused narrowly on abortion reduction without seriously addressing the prevention of unintended pregnancy. An empowered "Religious Left" would expose such political pandering around the issue of abortion and reinforce that the “values” of great importance to most Americans include economic equality, peace, and a clean environment, and that these are all intimately connected to reproductive health.

• Building political support: Political leaders may increase their support for prevention when religious constituencies speak out in favor of such programs as family planning, health services, and sex education and relate them to concerns such as poverty alleviation and child health.

• Reinforcing the meaning of religious freedom: The opposition to comprehensive sex education, HIV/AIDS prevention that includes condom education, emergency contraception and legal abortion comes from religious groups that claim these violate religious beliefs – the underlying message being that the only valid religious beliefs are theirs. The failure to appreciate and articulate religious pluralism as a powerful value often leads to capitulation and compromise on reproductive issues with factions that do not honor differing value systems inherent in our religiously plural society, as well as the value of religious pluralism itself.

A Religious Left that is unwaveringly committed to protecting religious freedom and enabling religious pluralism to flourish should speak with one voice against all attempts to violate church/state separation, including in areas of reproductive decision-making.

Even as we work to embrace reproductive justice as a logical expression of our religious values, having a serious dialogue in religious and political circles on reproductive justice will be challenging. The issue of abortion has created fear and division among progressives and hampered our efforts to forge a broad movement for justice that includes both women's rights and religious organizations. So-called “renewal groups” that use the abortion issue to create divisiveness in mainline Protestant denominations and Catholic and evangelical groups that oppose abortion can be expected to resist efforts to broaden the discussion to connect to other social justice issues. But research shows that the public is tired of the seemingly unending divisiveness on abortion and would like positive programs to support healthy and wanted pregnancies, keep young people in school, expand healthcare, and strengthen families. With that in mind, the "Religious Left" should move ahead in specific areas to incorporate reproductive justice in a comprehensive ethic of social justice.

Creating the Conditions for Strong Families and Wanted Children
Religions including The United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), The Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ, Unitarian Universalism and all branches of Judaism agree that human life is sacred - and include the life of the woman as well as the potential child. It is because of this belief that many religious communities work for a world in which every child is wanted, loved and cared for and support birth control, family planning, safe and legal abortion, and health care for all.

The reality, though, is that 82% of the approximately 750,000 teen pregnancies in the United States each year are unintended, with lifelong consequences for the teen mothers and their families. According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, teen pregnancy is closely linked to a host of other critical social issues - poverty and income disparities, overall child well-being, out-of-wedlock births, responsible fatherhood, health issues, education, child welfare, and risky behaviors. In addition, there are more than 500,000 births a year from pregnancies that women themselves say they did not want at the time of conception or in the future. These children are particularly vulnerable. For example, even when taking into account various social and economic factors, women experiencing an unplanned pregnancy are less likely to obtain prenatal care. Their babies are at increased risk of being born prematurely and at a low birth weight and are also less likely to be breastfed. And they are more likely to face a range of developmental risks such as poorer physical and mental health compared to children born as the result of an intended pregnancy.

Creating the Conditions for Responsible Parenting
An enduring commitment to family relationships is a bedrock religious value yet many current social policies have the effect of weakening families because of a lack of regard for reproductive justice. Again, unintended and unwanted pregnancies put women and families at risk for numerous problems that are intertwined with many of the social justice concerns that progressive religions espouse. Most unplanned births occur to unmarried women, and these families are more likely to be poor and the children are more likely to drop out of high school, have lower grade-point averages, lower college aspirations, and poorer school attendance records. "If more children in this country were born to parents who are ready and able to care for them,” says the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, “we would see a significant reduction in a host of social problems afflicting children in the United States, from school failure and crime to child abuse and neglect."

Creating A Health Care System That Works for All
The call for universal health care is coming from churches, temples, synagogues and seminaries. Reproductive healthcare is integral to any reasonable definition of health care -- yet new data indicate that there a growing problem in access to these services. One consequence, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is that maternal mortality in the U.S. has been rising and as of 2004 was the highest it had been since the 70s.5 The maternal mortality rate among African American women is at least three times higher than among white women, an indicator of racial disparities in health services. Three studies have shown that at least 40% of maternal deaths could have been prevented with improved quality of care. If we are serious about universal health care, we must advocate for the health and well being of the whole person, including women's reproductive health care.

Creating A More Just World
Religions understand that the scriptural injunction to love your neighbor and care for "every living thing that moves on the earth" applies across national boundaries, and yet 500,000 women die each year in impoverished and developing countries from pregnancy-related causes, including unsafe and illegal abortions, pregnancies at very young ages that cause irreparable physical damage, and pregnancies that occur too frequently. In addition, 9.7 million children die before they turn 5 years old - nearly 40% in their first month of life. It is estimated that more than 6 million maternal, newborn and child deaths would be averted yearly if essential maternal, newborn and child health and nutrition interventions were implemented at scale.7
Throughout the world, women's struggle for dignity includes the ability to consent to sex, to have a decision in childbearing, and to be able to care for themselves and their families. Healthy families are key to economic progress. These are values that are integral to an agenda for peace and sustainable global environmental practices.

Conclusion
The current and prospective Religious Left faces a significant challenge in how and even, for some, whether to address reproductive justice. The options are clear. We can continue to give lip-service to the issues of reproductive justice. We can reject them as too divisive. Or we can directly address them because they are of the most profound concern to women and men throughout the world. If we choose the latter, as I believe we must, our central challenge is to show how reproductive justice is deeply rooted in our religious values and to do so in ways that are affirming and respectful of diverse religious views. I believe we can and we must. Indeed, for us to do anything less is to risk failing as healers of humanity and prophets of a comprehensive vision of a just world,

Marjorie Brahms Signer of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice provided research and editorial assistance in the development of this essay.