(Episode 502) INCORRECT: Reproductive Healthcare

Transcript! Because accessibility is mandatory…

PDF transcript. Also available via our Buzzsprout page.

Shownotes! Because citations are political…

Season 5 continues with our first episode of INCORRECT! Today, we will discuss reproductive justice, and WHAT is going on with abortion and reproductive care access in the US and around the world. The episode was recorded right after the SCOTUS decision on Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization which removed the last federal protections for abortion access in 2022. Listen as Profs. IRMF and Goodwin explain to where religion IS and IS NOT tangled up in this mess.

The 101:Where we did the professor-work

Why Reproductive Justice?

To put it simply, This effects the bodies, livelihoods, and rights of people in all places at all times, particularly uterus-having folks. The decision to strike down Roe v. Wade is ultimately one that treads on American religious politics and white christian nationalism. But we must recognize that lots of christians in lots of places aren’t doing anti-abortion work, but we want to talk about how anti-abortion politics stem from christian supremacy. Let’s be real, we’re furious. Bodies are being denied agency by folks in power, and we had a lot to say about it….

Why you were INCORRECT! about reproductive justice and religion….

On this episode, we hoped to debunk a few common misconceptions about religion and reproductive justice:

  1. It’s always and everywhere religion v. reproductive justice

  2. Opposing reproductive justice is only a religious issue

For our basic lesson plan, here are a few of the main things that we talked about…

  • Professor Goodwin gave us a history lesson about law, religion, and reproductive rights. She talked about constitutional law, the passing of Roe v. Wade, anti-abortion efforts, and what led to the SCOTUS’ most recent decision to overturn protecting the right to abortion.

  • IRMF and Goodwin reminded us that overturning Roe v. Wade endangers other rights like…..queer sex! same-sex marriage! access to contraceptives!

  • IRMF gave us a lowdown on the history of abortion access in a few other places around the world, in this episode she focuses on South Korea and India.

    So, what is the thesis here? It isn’t always and everywhere, religion versus reproductive justice, but SCOTUS’ decision is largely to protecting white Christian nationalist sexual morality.

Professor Loretta Ross was one of the founding mothers of the Reproductive Justice Movement which began in the early 1990s. (image credit: Peyton Fullford)

Let’s review, where have we talked about this before?

  • E202: Intersectionality Where we talked about the basics of intersectional identities and oppressions overlap. We can’t talk about reproductive justice (a term which we can thank Black feminist activists for) without talking about intersectionality. Identities DIRECTLY impact the kinds of care that bodies have access to.

  • Smart Grrrrl Summer

    • What is Religious Nationalism? Why Should We Care? Where we discussed national belonging, the ideology of nationalism, and wherein religious nationalism exists. SCOTUS’ recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is tangled up in American nationalism in allll kinds of ways.

  • E408: What a Mess! Religion and Law Where we work through the ways that legal spaces REQUIRE, a definition of religion. In today’s episode we talk for a while about what religious identities the US Constitution does and does NOT protect.

The too-long-didn’t-listen from each of your killjoys…Where we leave you with something to remember

Megan wants you to remember that SCOTUS’ decision to overturn roe is a threat to queer people, for people who have sex, for people who do not want children, but also for our privacy and wellbeing. Even though there are christians who are not anti-abortion, this decision represents the ways that American law protects white, christian, nationalism.

Ilyse wants to remind you that this is not just about the US, abortion access is an issue all over the world. However, the whiteness, American-ness, nationalist-ness of this issue is really important here because it ultimately gets shipped around this world as it treads on imperialist structures.

Don’t forget your homework nerds!

Stay tuned for some work from [Digital Defenders, collaboration b/w Women’s March, sacred, and Auburn Media], a budding thing Megan and I are part of.

Ilyse says check out Zahra Ayubi, a scholar of Muslim bioethics

Ilyse also says to check out where abortion shows up in classical texts and the history of reproductive rights

Megan wants you to check out some badass writing and scholars who are here to teach you more about reproductive justice….

“It's not always and everywhere, religion on one side, and then reproductive healthcare and reproductive justice on the other.”