How do we expand the scope and power of the reproductive rights movement?

Evocative picture of a young African American mother nuzzling her sleeping baby

Individual donors who are passionate about the reproductive freedom of women and girls created the Tides Reproductive Justice Fund in 2003. After years of grantmaking on reproductive issues, they were frustrated by the continued erosion of reproductive rights across the nation and were ready to explore new strategies to build a movement with the power to win. They envisioned a funding collaborative that would empower them as philanthropists by:

  • Deepening their learning about the U.S. reproductive justice movement;
  • Increasing the strategic impact of their grantmaking; and
  • Leveraging their contributions to raise the visibility of and interest in this field among other individual and institutional donors.

Their vision inspired others to join them and the Reproductive Justice Fund now includes an increasing number of individual and institutional donors who believe reproductive justice (RJ) is a winning strategy, and who have collectively moved more than $6 million to 55 RJ organizations. RJ Fund grantees have been essential to some of the largest mobilizations and public policy wins in this arena in recent years. These victories include: establishing comprehensive sex education in New Mexico, Washington, D.C. and Chicago, banning the practice of shackling pregnant women in all federal prisons, defeating parental notification in California and fetal personhood in Colorado, and securing millions in federal funding to address sexual violence against Native women across the U.S. These wins and others  have ensured that the needs of the women who suffer the greatest reproductive health disparities are being addressed.

Reproductive Justice is both a theoretical framework and a practical strategy for change.

What

The reproductive justice movement is a transformational approach to advancing reproductive freedom in the U.S. It include the full spectrum of reproductive issues that impact women's lives – including the right to access reproductive health information and care; bear and parent children; receive treatment rather than incarceration for substance abuse; access a safe and legal abortion; be free from violence; and live and work in an environment free of reproductive toxins, just to name a few critical issues.
Who

RJ builds the engagement and leadership of the women who experience the greatest reproductive health disparities, including women of color, low-income, young, rural, immigrant, and incarcerated women, and LGBT people. It asserts that an effective movement requires a base and leadership that reflects the diversity of our nation; and that the leadership and expertise of those most impacted by reproductive injustice is essential to winning policy change that benefits those with the greatest need.
How

RJ uses grassroots organizing, policy advocacy, and alliance building as principal strategies to build a strong base of support. It actively recruits people into the movement and forges strong inter- and cross-movement alliances, bringing other powerful sectors – like the labor movement – to take a stand on key reproductive policy fights. RJ maintains that a grassroots base is not only essential to winning policy change at the local, state and national levels, but to monitoring and ensuring actual implementation of policy changes in communities across the nation.

We will have achieved Reproductive Justice when:

"All people have the economic, social and political power and resources to make healthy decisions about their gender, bodies, sexuality for themselves, their families, and their communities."

- Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice

Tidings Issue

The Reproductive Justice Movement issue of Tidings