by Ambrosia Ortiz,
Marshall Martinez,
Gail Houston
and the Rev. Karen Ballou
Daily Lobo guest columnists
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UNM Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Justice and the New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice have joined many other community groups this week as part of a Reproductive Justice Fair, sponsored by the Women's Resource Center.
The Reproductive Justice Fair coincides with the return of a graphic exhibit by the Justice For All organization, whose mission is to, in its words, "create debate, change hearts and save lives." It attempts to accomplish this by equating abortion to the lynching of African-Americans, the holocaust of World War II, the killing fields of Cambodia and the massacres of American Indians during the Indian Wars. However, it offers no real solutions for these and the numerous other injustices of our world, such as poverty, racism, xenophobia, trafficking and sexism.
In a nation that holds motherhood in high esteem, one in five pregnant women does not receive timely care or receives no care at all in the U.S. Our infant mortality rate is one of the highest among industrialized nations. We have one of the highest rates of unintended teen pregnancy, with young women routinely left to shoulder the burden of pregnancy and the demands of parenthood alone. Over the past 15 years, maternal mortality rates have not dropped. Women - particularly women of color - are the fastest-growing HIV-positive group in the U.S., yet women's symptoms are frequently dismissed or misdiagnosed and left untreated.
As people of faith, UNM Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Justice and the New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice are committed to bringing about a more just world, which honors the whole realm of human experience and affirms the dignity and worth of all humanity. Our vision of justice for all includes the fundamental right to make the most personal, intimate and private decisions without fear or coercion and with the full support of family and society. Because of our faith and our commitment to justice for all, we believe that adequate health care should be available to all, regardless of gender, race, religion, age, economic or social condition or nationality.
Discriminatory barriers make access to reproductive justice a hollow promise for millions of women and girls today. The most vulnerable are young women and low-income women - often women of color - who are the least likely to have health care options.
To be equitable and just, access to reproductive health services must include equal access to the full range of reproductive health services, including contraception, prenatal and postnatal health care, birthing options, accurate sex education and safe abortion services.
It must also include Medicaid funding for abortion; public funding for abortion for women in prison, women covered by the Indian Health Service and women in the U.S. military; resources so that low-income women can take care of their children with dignity; an end to attacks on reproductive rights through welfare reform, including the denial of assistance to immigrants, the illegitimacy bonus and coercive pro-marriage policies; an end to harassment and violence directed at clinics and abortion providers; an end to all forms of violence against women, including physical and sexual violence that prevents women from controlling their sexual and reproductive lives; and culturally competent reproductive health care, including HIV and AIDS prevention and affordable contraception without coercion.
To make this reproductive justice a reality, we must also address the injustices that plague women and men and resist the population-control strategies that diminish our dignity. Instead, we must continue to work for public policies that ensure the medical, economic and educational resources necessary for healthy families and communities that are equipped to nurture children in peace and love. We must work for a world that values cooperation over competition, compassion over punishment, respect over control and the dazzling diversity of creation over conformity. We will pray for a world that not only protects reproductive justice, but celebrates it as well.
Ambrosia Ortiz and Marshall Martinez are from UNM Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Justice, Gail Houston is a UNM faculty member in the English department and the Rev. Karen Ballou is president of the New Mexico Religious Coalition for
Reproductive Choice.
