RJ 101: What Is Reproductive Justice and Why Is It Our Path to Liberation?

February 11, 2026

If you’re a fellow abortion nerd, you’ve undoubtedly heard the term “reproductive justice,” but you may not know quite what this phrase means or the framework’s origins. And if you’ve never heard this term at all, welcome! We’re delighted to have you.

What is reproductive justice?

Reproductive justice goes beyond abortion access: It demands that we build power for governance that centers our ability to live, eat, make decisions about our own bodies, have children when and if we choose, and raise those children in communities with fully funded public schools, free from gun violence and state-sanctioned violence at the hands of our government.

Reproductive justice demands we fight for collective liberation, not piecemeal policy change. It’s a framework AND a movement.

Our favorite origin story, the beginning of the reproductive justice movement:

It was 1994, and 12 Black women gathered after attending a reproductive healthcare conference that—once again—centered white feminism and stale pro-choice policies.

The pro-choice movement begged for scraps. These Black women knew our communities deserved more.

They recognized the need for a justice-centered approach to reproductive freedom, anchored by the needs of Black communities, other underrepresented women, and trans people—especially within a larger feminist movement that routinely ignores the experiences and expertise of Black women, organizers, and activists.

During this meeting, the term reproductive justice was coined, and a movement was born.

These visionary leaders were:
Loretta Ross
Toni M. Bond Leonard
Reverend Alma Crawford
Evelyn S. Field
Terri James
Bisola Marignay
Cassandra McConnell
Cynthia Newbille
Elizabeth Terry
‘Able’ Mable Thomas

The demands of the framework, as defined by Sister Song (an organization formed by the founders of RJ), should be a given: “The human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities.”

And as we uplift the history and origin of RJ, we’re simultaneously celebrating the Centennial of Black History Month.

Remember this, y’all:
Reproductive justice IS Black History, and Black History IS reproductive justice.

Reproductive INjustice is killing our communities — building our power cannot wait

The framework and movement are hopeful, visionary, and anchoring. But sadly, reproductive INjustice has an undeniable presence in our lives.

A maternal health crisis is raging across our state.

Abortion bans are killing us, especially Black Texans.

Stories like Tierra Walker’s, a Black Texas mother in San Antonio who died after being denied lifesaving abortion care, have become devastatingly frequent.

Tierra Walker was a Black mother who deserved abortion care. Instead, 90 doctors ignored her pain, disregarded her life, and left her son, JJ, without a mother on his birthday.

In a state where reproductive justice governs at the center, Tierra would’ve had:
Access to compassionate and high-quality prenatal care
Doctors who listened when she said her life was at risk, without fear of prosecution
A state that trusted her to make her own decision about her body and her family’s future
And a system that valued Black mothers’ lives as much as it claims to value a fetus

Black mothers and birthing people are three times more likely to die during pregnancy in states with abortion bans, including Texas.

Now, Harris County, the most racially diverse area in the nation, is **the most dangerous place in America for Black birthing people and their babies** — still, the state refuses to review maternal deaths from 2022 to 2023. The first two years after the state banned abortion.

As our executive director, raven E. Freeborn (they/them) wrote after Tierra Walker’s death:

“Those who currently govern know the consequences of their actions and intend to make Black mothers collateral in their quest for control.”

Harris County is a devastating proving ground for raven’s words.

These are not coincidences — this is governance guided by white supremacy, not justice.

Why is reproductive justice our path to liberation?

As one of the founders of RJ, Loretta Ross, says:

“Don’t let the chain of freedom break at your link.”

Our liberation is linked to one another, inextricably.

When people don’t have resources to feed themselves and their children, they’re stuck in survival mode and easier to control — unable to envision a future and build it, whether that’s through education, accessing therapy, and yes, getting an abortion. At least that’s what anti-abortion extremists and the people who prop them up hope for.

This is why fighting for abortion access isn’t enough. Attacking our bodily autonomy is about so much more than abortion. It’s about control.

The RJ movement calls upon us to address the material conditions that real people in our communities are facing every day.

Reproductive justice is racial justice.
Reproductive justice is immigrant justice.
Reproductive justice is LGBTQIA+ liberation.
Reproductive justice is economic justice.
Reproductive justice is environmental justice.
Reproductive justice is safety from state-sanctioned violence.
Reproductive justice is the abolition of all systems seeking to steal our freedoms.

RJ calls upon us to address the material conditions that real people in our communities are facing every day.

As we find ourselves in a moment in history where injustice compounds injustice, we must remember that reproductive justice is our path forward.

We must be active in pushing for governance that centers justice. We must be there to protect our neighbors, feed our neighbors, and create community networks stronger than any laws or attacks they throw at us.

We have the playbook for liberation; we just need everyone to open it.

Take action for Texas mothers and birthing people by demanding the Texas Maternal Mortality Committee review the maternal death crisis in Texas, and join our movement at www.avowtexas.org.