New York Coalition for Reproductive Justice

The New York Coalition for Reproductive Justice is an independent network of activists advancing the human rights of women and girls of color in New York.

[nyc4rj-blog]

Women’s Equality Day 2013: Celebrating the nostalgia of past successes while remaining rooted in the dangers of the future

 Today, August 26, 2013 is Women’s Equality Day. It marks 93 years that white women have had access to the vote, and over 40 years since this day has been nationally recognized. Giving full credit to the importance of what this day means to the legacy of…

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[nyc4rj-blog]

Ryan, stop trying to define our “Hood” BLACK WOMANHOOD

I am thoroughly unimpressed by you Ryan Bomberger and your insidious campaign of shaming Black women and girls. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop with the disgusting racist and sexist billboards claiming, among other equally disturbing messages, “The Most…

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[nyc4rj-blog]

RSVP to the No Stigma! No Shame! Teen Families Conference | July 13th, 2013

In March 2013, we launched the No Stigma! No Shame! campaign, in response to the New York City Human Resources Administration's “Think Being a Teen Parent Won’t Cost You?” teen pregnancy prevention campaign. While most of the teen pregnancy prevention ads are gone, the HRA has green-lighted its annual positive messaging ads for adult men on how to be a better father. Such a stark contrast to the shameful and stigmatizing subway and bus ads that were the highlight of the HRA's teen pregnancy prevention campaign.   

  To that end, we are excited to announce the No Stigma! No Shame! Teen Families Conference, taking place, Saturday, July 13th. This day-long conference focuses on emotional wellness, sexual/reproductive health, education, & advocacy. We hope this event speaks to the needs of NYC's teen families and connects them to organizations and groups that provide support advice on school, jobs, and self sufficiency. This event will include four 40-minute concurrent workshops, as well as a free raffle, free daycare, food, and a networking hour for families to further connect with each other.

  We have also secured District 18 Councilwoman Annabel Palma to deliver the keynote address at the conference. A former teen mom, Annabel is Chair of the Committee on General Welfare, and is a member of the Committees on Land Use; Landmarks, Public Siting & Maritime Uses (Sub-committee); Standards & Ethics; and Youth Services.

  Please help us spread the word about this wonderful event. This event is by RSVP only and is only open to teen parents (female and male) ages 21 and under. If you work with teen parents, please forward the RSVP link. Here is the RSVP link.

  Lastly, we are looking for volunteers. If you would like to volunteer, please contact us at nyc4rj[at]gmail[dot]com and let us know what you want to offer assistance with below:

Documentation- This includes photography, being active on social media (Twitter, Facebook, Storify, etc), encouraging attendees to share their stories and lessons learned. 

Raffle items- This includes securing family centered items (gift cards, diapers, toddler items, etc.) and encouraging attendees to complete feedback forms for all workshops attended. 

Publicity- This includes getting the word out about the conference via opinion editorials, blogging, social media, and other venues

This also includes reaching out to local media to write about the conference 

Resources- This includes assisting with the gathering of information for the attendees' conference folders (stats on teen pregnancy nationally and locally, sexual health, healthy eating, job readiness, college preparedness, etc., local and national teen parenting empowerment campaigns, etc.) Logistics- This includes verifying attendees' registration, set up at conference site, and anywhere else that's needed Tabling- This includes sharing helpful information for teen parents from your organization, school, business, etc. 

Thanks to you all for your continuous support! 

Nicole Clark- No Stigma! No Shame! campaign lead organizer

Gloria Malone- No Stigma! No Shame! conference coordinator

[nyc4rj-blog]

No Stigma! No Shame!: Campaign Update

Since the launch of the No Stigma! No Shame! campaign, we've been excited about the many possibilities that our campaign can do to not only inform the New York City Human Resources Administration how ineffective their "Think Being a Teen Parent Won't Cost You?" is, but to also be part of the larger discussion on how to help the rates of teen pregnancy in New York City continue to decline. 

Also, since the launch we've realized that our priorities have shifted. Based on the demands in our letter to the NYC HRA, we still want to hold true to them, but we've done a little "about-face" and realized that our primary focus needs to be on visibility. We want to show the HRA that we mean business, and we are serious about empowering teens to have the agency to make the best healthcare decisions for themselves (and to involve adult allies in the process)

To be transparent, some of our frustrations include gaining support from local organizations and lawmakers. Taking on a governmental entity can prove to be concerning, especially for organizations who receive funding from the HRA or from NYC mayor, Michael Bloomberg. Many organizations were not able to sign on to our demand letter as an organization, but many people did sign on as a separate person. Another frustration has been having to come to terms with the need to re-access our priorities, which can often be difficult when you're amped up to take action. But without this necessary shift, you continue to move forward haphardardly. 

Some of our successes include the huge support we've gotten via social media. Our hashtag #NoStigmaNoShame is connecting others around the world on how we all can broaden the conversation on effective ways to prevent teen pregnancy (and not just in NYC). Most importantly, people are ready to mobilize!

Here are some ways for YOU to become involved with the No Stigma! No Shame! campaign:

Join the NYC4RJ listserv to stay updated on coalition news at the No Stigma! No Shame! campaign (including dates of in-person and conference call meetings)

We've developed a few committees and we need volunteers to help us out: Real Teenage Families committee (led by Gloria Malone of Teen Mom NYC, our parenting teen conference committee (an all-day conference for local parenting teens), fundraising committee (develop ways to fundraise for NYC4RJ efforts and the campaign initiatives), direct action committee (develop ways to bring more awareness around the campaign), media outreach committee (developing key talking points for speaking with the media, social media, and blogging), and community outreach (speaking with schools and community organizations about the campaign). Contact us to show your interest in volunteering.

Follow NYC4RJ on Twitter (and use the hashtag #NoStigmaNoShame) to receive real-time updates

“Like” NYC4RJ on Facebook to stay updated on coalition news at the No Stigma! No Shame! campaign

Follow NYC4RJ on Instagram. When you see the HRA’s teen pregnancy prevention ads, take a picture and use the #NoStigmaNoShame hashtag, along with the location of where the ad was placed. Also, share what you think the HRA’s budget of $400,000 would have been more useful for in teen pregnancy prevention (even better, tweet your response to NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and to the NYC HRA)

Share the story of parenting teens on Real Teenage Families

If you're outside of NYC but see similar ads showing up in your city, let us know about it in the comments section below! 

Thanks for your continuous support!

Nicole Clark, MSW

No Stigma! No Shame! campaign lead organizer

[nyc4rj-blog]

NYC4RJ Launches the "No Stigma! No Shame!" Campaign

    The New York Coalition for Reproductive Justice is launches its No Stigma! No Shame! Campaign in response to the Human Resource Administration's,"Think Being A Teen Parent Won't Cost You?"campaign.

We ask that you stand with us and sign on listing your affiliation, organization and state. Please send that information and sign on at nyc4rj[at]gmail[dot]com. Support us in getting the word out and pushing for a teen pregnancy prevention campaign that DOES NOT shame and blame teen parents, particularly teen parents of color.   Show up and sign on! NYC4RJ No Stigma! No Shame! Campaign Jasmine Burnett Lead Organizer - NYC4RJ Nicole Clark Lead Organizer - No Stigma! No Shame! Campaign Sign on Letter Dear Community,   The New York Coalition for Reproductive Justice (NYC4RJ) condemns the New York City Human Resource Administration’s (HRA) use of images and messaging that attacks young people and their families. This campaign, “Think Being a Teen Parent Won’t Cost You?” shames teen parents, especially teen parents of color, and uses images of their children to blame them for conditions that are society’s responsibility to address.   The New York Coalition for Reproductive Justice is a coalition of grassroots activists in New York City, working to advance the human rights of women and girls of color and LGBTQ people of color through our advocacy priority areas of Education, Health and Families.    We fail as a society when we shame young people instead of teaching them what they need to know to make the best decisions about their lives. For those of us who do direct service, education and advocacy around issues of poverty, access to comprehensive sex education, contraception, family planning and addressing health disparities that have historically impacted communities of color, we are acutely aware of the budget cuts to programs and services that could address and reverse these conditions within our communities. The New York Coalition for Reproductive Justice is holding HRA accountable for reinforcing negative stereotypes about the decision-making ability of young people instead of investing in programs and policies that encourage young people to thrive.   In response to this HRA campaign, the New York Coalition for Reproductive Justice asserts, teen parents need support, not shame! We are launching the NO STIGMA! NO SHAME! Campaign with the following demands:   - Public acknowledgement and apology from HRA - Removal of all HRA campaign posters - A meeting between the HRA and NYC4RJ leaders - Creation of a Teen Parent Council within HRA, composed of teen parents and their advocates, to approve any future messaging around teen pregnancy prevention   In order to address teen pregnancy, the HRA and all New York City government programs must offer teen parents support, not stigmatizing messages.  "In August, according to the Department Of Education’s Sex Education website, Chancellor Dennis Walcott announced that beginning in the second semester of the 2011-2012 school year, New York City will require schools to include sexual health education as part of comprehensive health education."  Teen parents need government officials to provide resources that encourage them to foster resilience instead of shaming them for creating their own families.   The New York Coalition for Reproductive Justice calls on the HRA to dismantle this reprehensible campaign and address the real problem: lack of support for teen parents and their families.   Signed,   The New York Coalition for Reproductive Justice

[nyc4rj-blog]

Ruminating on Aretha Franklin's Demand for RESPECT to 2 Chainz Big Booty Hoe

This one goes out to the Rap, R&B entertainers and those who live and agree with the pictures they paint with their music of Black women and girls. If you feel that you’ve arrived when a Black Feminist responds, understand I’ll be brief, but here you go…

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[nyc4rj-blog]

As a part of the comprehensive NY Women's Equality Act, Gov. Cuomo takes a stand on a woman's right to choice and access!

[nyc4rj-blog]

RSVP: NYC4RJ Meeting Oct. 15-6pm RJ Potluck

Join Us for a Reproductive Justice Pot-Luck!

Our next New York Coalition for Reproductive Justice meeting will be hosted at the home of our FIERCE sister Reynolds Tenazas!

Bring your favorite dish to share and join us in a conversation: Raising our Hands and Voices! The Power of women and girls of color in New York

This will be a wonderful time to join women of color and our allies in a discussion, ideas for action, next steps in defining what civic engagement means for us and to begin forecasting Post-election strategies.

Join us for good food and conversation!

RSVP to: [email protected]

[jasmineburnett]

Our fight for dignity, respect and rights in employment is not new for women of color. Our long legacy as workers around issues such as overtime pay, minimum wage and fair labor practices dates back to the late 19th century. These battles were not fought to simply protect businesses and the...

[racialicious]

The latest available figures show that only 48 percent of voting-age women with ready access to their U.S. birth certificates have a birth certificate with their current legal name. The same survey showed that only 66 percent of voting-age women with ready access to any proof of citizenship have a document with their current legal name. Ultimately, these measures make the voting process more confusing and place additional burdens on groups who each had to struggle to obtain the right to vote and the right to access quality & affordable reproductive health care. What are leaders in the movement saying? “If you can’t access the ballot box, how do you ensure access to reproductive health care?” — Aimee Thorne-Thompson, Advocates for Youth For reproductive justice advocates, voter suppression is a reproductive justice issue. Many groups like the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Rights (RCRC) and NYC Reproductive Justice Coalition (NYC RJC, formerly SisterSong NYC) and Advocates for Youth work year-around to educate communities on the issues and mobilize them to vote for progressive candidates and ballot measures. Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Justice Director at RCRC, Angela Ferrell-Zabala says voter suppression has the potential to affect down ballot measures and local races in states like Florida. “Down ballot issues like Amendment 6 will open the state’s constitutional privacy laws and make it very difficult for women to seek abortion care’’ Ferrell-Zabala states. If Amendment 6 is passed, politicians will be allowed to intrude on personal medical decisions and take away access to healthcare that many women who are Florida public employees currently have. There is much at stake and “we have to look at the repercussions, it all leads back to reproductive justice. Accessing healthcare and education — making informed decisions about your sexual health and family planning.” Ferrell-Zabala explains. This is about agency and the power to transform communities. “To limit the agency of women and youth who are disenfranchised by the social conditions of our race, gender, age and socio-economic status is unacceptable at best, and a direct violation of our human rights at its worst.” says Jasmine Burnett, NYC RJC lead organizer. Gloria Feldt, author and past president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America argues that “the young, the poor, the women struggling to make ends meet for their families are most vulnerable to disenfranchisement yet have the most to lose if right-wing perpetrators of voter suppression succeed.” The power of the women’s vote can only be effectively leveraged if every woman who is eligible to vote is able to enter the voting booth and have her vote counted. If they are not counted in 2012 then, “reproductive rights, health, and justice would be among the first freedoms to go, and economic justice not far behind.” said Feldt.

Charlene Carruthers, “The Right To Vote Affects the Power To Choose: How Voter Suppression In 2012 Will Erode Reproductive Rights,” RH Reality Check 7/13/12 (via racialicious)

[reproductivelyjust]

“No Joke. Choice Matters. Everywhere” - a hilarious, yet poignantly relevant look at reproductive health care accessibility (or lack there of) for women [and others who need access to these services but do not identify as women].

Issa Rae is just so full of win!

[nyc4rj-blog]

Issa Rae with a humorous take on GYN & clinic visits highlighting access issues in the US and internationally.

[kittensandcoffeeandbeautifulday]

White people have stolen from Native people again and again and again. White people stole Native people’s land, put them on reservations, stole their customs and made a mockery of them, tattoo their bodies with mockeries of great Native leaders, and more. And now the Great Sioux Nation is in danger of having their sacred heartland stolen, too.The land is going to be auctioned off on August 25 unless the people can buy it back.

PLEASE donate whatever you can—even just a few dollars helps—and signal boost this. We cannot allow this injustice to happen. 

[kittensandcoffeeandbeautifulday]

From an email update I got from the campaign:

People have asked how the land came to be owned by private owners. After the treaty of 1868 was violated by the US Government, they then passed new laws (Dawes Act), again violating their own laws, and parcelling out the Great Sioux Nation into allotments. Each Sioux (Lakota) head of household (men) was designated 160 acres and orphans or those under 18yo were designated 40 – 80 acres. The remainder of land was opened up to settlers to purchase, especially in the Black Hills where Custer’s expedition had found gold.

We can’t go back in time to undo the crimes that took place in the past, but we can stop this one from happening. Please, donate whatever you are able to and signal boost this again and again!

[thecurvature]

There’s 65 hours left to donate right now … PLEASE signal boost and give as much as you can.

[flawsandallcbeezy]

We exist as women who are black who are feminists, each stranded for the moment, working independently because there is not yet an environment in this society remotely congenial to our struggle-because, being on the bottom, we would have to do what no one else has done: we would have to fight the world.

Michelle Wallace “A Black Feminist’s Search for Sisterhood” (via flawsandallcbeezy)

[nyc4rj-blog]

Gender Non-Conformity, Reproductive Justice (correlation)

From--and full credit to--the Sylvia Rivera Law Project:

Transgender, transsexual, intersex and other gender non-conforming people face persistent and severe discrimination in employment, education, health care, social and legal services, criminal justice and many other realms. Simultaneously, all low-income people, and particularly those in communities of color, are suffering from the severe cutbacks to anti-poverty programs, increasing militarization of the police, and rising rates of incarceration. Low income people and people of color who experience gender identity discrimination are particularly vulnerable in this climate. Low-income people and people of color are overrepresented in systems such as prisons, group homes, shelters and detention facilities. Because so many of the systems are sex-segregated, many people face serious problems of inaccessibility, harassment or violence if their gender identity or expression does not conform to their birth sex. Many are turned away outright from essential services like homeless shelters, drug treatment or mental health services, while others experience discrimination or violence in these settings because of their gender identity or expression. Police harassment and violence, and mistreatment in juvenile and adult justice systems, are widespread in our communities. Furthermore, those who seek legal and social services to help get on their feet or fight for entitlements often encounter ignorance or discrimination at the door. The result is that transgender, transsexual, intersex and gender non-conforming people are disproportionately poor, homeless, and incarcerated, and are 7-10 times more likely to be a victim of murder.

The right to self determine gender identity and expression and be free from violence is only one facet of a multi-issue movement for justice and self-determination of al people. We believe that justice does not trickle down, and that those who face the most severe consequences of violence and discrimination should be the priority of movements against discrimination.

[nyc4rj-blog]

Transformative Justice, Reproductive Justice (correlation)

Cara Page states “Reproductive justice includes justice in food, body autonomy, race, economics, environment, land, fertility, and gender. How can we expand our notion of reproductive justice around birthing? How can we give women power over when/where to give birth? Birthing traditions are being criminalize across the country. Reproductive justice needs to create a wider lens on trauma and grief, for survivors of harm and perpetuators of harm. We often are both.”

[nyc4rj-blog]

Transformative Justice

Cara Page defined it at the Civil Liberties and Public Policies (CLPP) Conference on April 15, 2012, as:

“Community-based solutions that don't perpetuate violence, strengthens communities, and doesn't criminalize. [It] also understands that people have the ability to transform, regardless if you've caused harm or been harmed. It moves away from systems that criminalize communities and instead encourages more systems of safety. It looks at generational trauma and violence, works to help communities heal, creating systems of wellness. It helps to centralizing community/hold people accountable doing violence (which can be one in the same). We tend to focus on the survivors. But what happens to the observers' experiences (people who see violence)? It looks at how to hold spaces for grief and trauma and to work collectively on healing.”

[nyc4rj-blog]

Sex Work

From--and full credit to--anna Saini: 

The exchange of sexual services for money, things of value or the fulfilment of material needs. Sex work is more than just intercourse for pay. Prostitutes, strippers, burlesque dancers, porn stars, pro-dommes, sex-line operators, escorts, geishas, courtesans and many more related professions fit under the umbrella of sex work.  Sex workers are representative of a broad range of communities across ethnic backgrounds, income classes and other socio-economic signifiers. Sex workers come to the sex industry through many different walks of life. We generalize about these varying avenues to the sex trade by using the spectrum of 'choice', 'circumstance' and 'coercion'.

Many sex workers enter the sex trade by choice. They may choose to work in the sex trade because they gain higher pay per hour than many other jobs. Others may choose the work because it is easy and fun for them to have sex for money. Still others may find it a desirable way to check out of the corporate economy or live off of the grid.

Sex workers also enter the industry by circumstance. This means they end up in the industry because of forces outside of their control. For instance a dis/abled person of color may end up in the industry because racism and ableism pose significant barriers to finding work in the mainstream economy. Undocumented people may find themselves doing sex work because it is the only work they can access without papers. 

Capitalism and patriarchy collude to push many people into the global sex trade through coercion, like when a person is forced to work for a pimp. Sex trafficking is another form of forced sex work. Sex workers by-and-large are not sex trafficked and most sex trafficked people do not identify as sex workers. Although sex workers and sex trafficked people are not synonymous they do have overlapping experiences of exchanging sex for survival as well as enduring the resulting criminalization, stigma and violence. 

Note that these avenues to sex work exist in a spectrum. For example, 'survival sex', where a person engages in sex work to fulfil basic needs, exists in the grey area between force and circumstance. A trans person who engages in sex work to pay for expensive surgery and/or drugs involved in transitioning genders blurs the line between choice and circumstance.  Also note that no matter where a person's experience falls on this spectrum of choice, circumstance and coercion, every sex worker has equal agency and dignity. Sex workers are not trapped, pitiable or desperate. Sex workers perform a vital and commonplace service that plays an integral and honored role in cultures across the world and throughout herstory from the Kama Sutra to the Bible. The silencing of these herstories that revere sex work is a symptom of genocide.

The criminalization of sex work can be understood as an invention and function of colonization. Prohibition of prostitution was one of the many oppressions that colonizers imported from the Western world onto Indigenous societies. The continued criminalization and stigmatization of sex work is one manifestation of the colonization of the body and sexual autonomy. It is a tool commonly used against low-income, racialized and trans women as a means toward incarceration and other forms of state and individual violence.

Despite, or perhaps because of, the intense violence, criminalization and stigma sex workers face, 'sex worker' is a powerful identity. It is an identity that represents the undeniable power of femininity in defiance and transcendence of patriarchy and capitalism. It is also the moniker that has unified millions in global mass movements that fuse feminism, labor rights and social justice in a powder keg of radical activism.