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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Amy Allina, Cynthia A. Pearson, and Kristen M. Suthers, PhD, MPH. National Women's Health Network, 514 Tenth Street, NW, Fourth Floor, Washington, DC 20004, 202-347-1140, aallina@nwhn.org

A commitment to safe and accessible abortion and contraception has been a core priority of the progressive women's health movement since its inception. But there have been moments when divisions have arisen between the women's health and the reproductive rights communities. The new vision of reproductive justice, which offers a framework for understanding the intersection of reproductive and social justice concerns, provides an opportunity to understand the underlying cause of those divisions and suggests an approach that may help avoid or resolve similar conflicts in the future. The debates over waiting periods for sterilization and the safety of long-acting hormonal contraceptives are two examples of issues where such conflict has emerged. Women's health advocates who sought restrictions on these contraceptive methods have been seen by some reproductive rights advocates as unwitting accomplices to anti-choice efforts to block access to products that improve women's ability to control fertility. Reproductive rights advocates who sought to preserve women's unlimited access to the methods have been seen by some women's health advocates as unwitting accomplices to either a population control or a pharmaceutical industry agenda that promotes contraception without adequate safeguards for women's health. As new contraceptives are developed, the same concerns about safety, informed and voluntary use, and repressive restrictions continue to arise. By recognizing the ways that reproductive concerns are intertwined with the economic, political, social and cultural realities of women's lives, the reproductive justice framework creates the possibility of bringing the perspectives of the two communities into greater accord.

Learning Objectives: At the end of the session, the participant will be able to

• Describe the divisions that have emerged between women’s health and reproductive rights advocates over issues such as waiting periods for sterilization and safety of long-acting hormonal contraception.
• Discuss the different perspectives and priorities of each community that have created the divisions.
• Articulate how the reproductive justice framework presented in this session creates the possibility for a more unified approach to similar issues in the future.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: This abstract is submitted with the intent of presenting it as part of a session entitled "Theoretical and practical approaches to achieving a new vision of reproductive justice"

Any relevant financial relationships? No