How Communities Across the U.S. are Fighting for Reproductive Rights and Equitable Maternity Care
The overturning of Roe v. Wade and the subsequent rise of state laws that severely restrict or outright ban abortion represent a dramatic slide backward in reproductive rights and the progress gained through decades of advocacy and organizing. Amid the anger and fear created by this new reality, there is also a vibrant movement fighting to ensure equality in reproductive and maternal healthcare and advance legislation to codify abortion rights.
In this newsletter we’re shining a spotlight on the ongoing struggles and victories that are shaping the future of reproductive health and the evolving conversations surrounding maternal care and reproductive justice.
Read on to explore movements for safe and equitable maternity care in the U.S., abortion access in Indigenous communities, Black reproductive justice, and one candidate’s effort to reframe the political debate on abortion.
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Reclaiming Birth: The Movement for Safe, Reverent, and Equitable Maternity Care in America
Leseliey Welch and Indra Lusero are parents and birth justice advocates who are helping lead a movement to create community birth centers across the nation. To help address the maternal and infant mortality crisis, they’re realizing a vision in which midwives become the leaders in reclaiming the normal physiologic process of birth. In this article, learn why they think these birth centers provide racially and culturally-relevant care founded in safety, love and trust.
Britt Gondolfi thought she’d always be anti-abortion; now she wants to reframe the debate
“I would pray that people not forget women in the South. We’re not a lost cause.”
After growing up in a religious household and believing she would always be against abortion, Britt Gondolfi shares what changed her mind and led her to run a political campaign that championed the right to choose.
Black Reproductive Justice: Black Birthing Spaces and Support Could Be the Key to Maternal Health
“It’s very beneficial when you have a doctor that knows a lot about your race; she knows the circumstances and things that can go on just within the culture of your body, things that could happen.” – Shaquyla Baker
In the United States, pregnancy and birth among people of color suffer from far worse outcomes than in the rest of the population. Black people in particular find themselves consistently at the mercy of a system of care dominated by white, male medical practitioners that is insensitive to their needs and that results in far too many life-threatening failures. This article is part of Dreaming Out Loud, a media series written as part of the Bioneers Young Leaders Fellowship Program.
What We’re Tracking
- Indigenous Communities Navigate Abortion After Roe | “When you add in the rates of violence and the complete gutting of tribal governments’ abilities to respond, you have a real dangerous recipe in which Native women have a lack of reproductive health.”
- Inside the Underground Abortion Pill Network | A new documentary called Plan C shines a light on the urgent work being done by a network of reproductive justice activists to get abortion pills into the hands of those who need them.
- A Brief History of Birth Control | Learn about the first methods of birth control to today’s latest updates, and everything in between.
Upcoming Bioneers Learning Courses & Community Conversations
Through engaging courses and conversations led by some of the world’s leading thinkers, doers, activists and practitioners in a wide range of fields, Bioneers Learning and Community Conversations equip engaged citizens and professionals like you with the knowledge, tools, resources and networks to initiate or deepen your engagement, leading to real change in your life and community.
Upcoming Bioneers Learning Courses:
- Honoring Your Emotional Ecosystem | Starting November 14 | A grounded and surprising exploration of the healing genius in your emotional realm.
Upcoming Community Conversations:
- Wiser Together: Partnering for Intergenerational Creativity | November 1 | Connect and discover how we may each nourish our skills and practices to become joyful co-creators across generations.
- A Doorway into the Imaginal Expanse | December 6 | Create a home for your intuition, coax the artist within, and make soul commitments enriching our intraceptive landscape.
Fibershed Symposium 2023
Our friends at Fibershed invite you to their 2023 Symposium, “Relationships of Change,” on Friday, November 10. This year’s Symposium will feature those working on critical issues of fossil fuel divestment from textiles and fashion, garment workers’ rights, and new laws aiming to internalize the costs of our textile ‘waste’ while catalyzing fundamental shifts in material choice and design. For in-person attendees, the Fibershed Learning Activities Showcase will feature a range of hands-on educational activities for families and fiber enthusiasts.
We encourage you to attend and explore the interdependence of our textile system and listen, share, and learn alongside a variety of voices and experiences in our fiber system.
Fibershed Symposium Details
- Friday, November 10, 2023
- 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Join in person in Point Reyes, Calif., or virtually
- Learn More and Register Here
Fibershed is a nonprofit organization that develops equity-focused regional and land-regenerating natural fiber and dye systems. Fibershed’s work expands opportunities to implement climate beneficial agriculture, rebuild regional manufacturing, and connect end-users to the source of our fiber through direct educational offerings.
Gratitude Revealed: Impact Gratitude
RSVP for a special free on November 16 at 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET event focused on how gratitude can not only help us to find happiness but also to have an impact on saving our environment. Louie Schwartzberg (Fantastic Fungi), Paul Hawken, Bruce Lipton, Eriel Deranger and mediator and founder of The Climate Boot Camp, Michael Linn will host a special Q&A to follow the virtual screening of the film Gratitude Revealed.