A message from the women’s center

Well before the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, Women’s Center staff had begun to brainstorm ways to incorporate education about reproductive justice into our programming. We had been and continue to be in conversation with various students, staff and faculty, as well campus partners and collaborators in gender equity work. We paid attention to the conversations and the questions and ideas being raised by members of our communities. When the news came of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Women’s Center staff knew that we wanted to not just focus on reproductive rights or reproductive health, but on reproductive justice (RJ).

SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective defines reproductive justice as “the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities.” Abortion access is part of this framework, but it also is expansive enough to include “contraception, comprehensive sex education, STI prevention and care, alternative birth options, adequate prenatal and pregnancy care, domestic violence assistance, adequate wages to support our families, safe homes, and so much more.”

(https://www.sistersong.net/reproductive-justice)

This zine is a recognition of the RJ framework, an acknowledgement that our communities need support on multiple fronts to ensure our collective survival, health and joy. As we work to envision a world centered in reproductive justice, we are not advocating for utopia. Instead, we encouraged submissions that were willing and eager to flip the idea of utopia on its head — to create an anti-utopia if you will. A just world is not perfect by any means. Think of moments when you have moved through conflict with loved ones; the moments where you acknowledged that you were scared, but chose to move through activation to speak your truth; the moments where you and a friend mutually decided on a difficult boundary to grow on your own, but still continued to hold care for one another. This collection of art, writing, and other creative modalities invites us to step into all of those complexities and more.

We hope to illustrate this moment of change we are all living through, and capture a process that is sometimes overwhelming and broad, but also often simple and deeply personal. Within this zine, you will find stories of love and loss, trauma and hope, imagination and remembering, grief and joy, and many other connected contradictions of transformational times. You will encounter pieces that might feel tender, and possibly triggering to move through; seeking justice in an unjust world does not come without hurt, questioning and challenge. There will also be elements of softness and ease — and potentially healing — to greet you as well. We encourage you to tend to your heart and give yourself care through it all.

May we continue moving towards a reproductive justice future, and find ways to honor — whether through battle, through enjoyment, or through just being — the past and present.

In solidarity, Women’s Center staff