Comments Prepared for the Futures Without Violence

27 August 2024 Monica R. McLemore PhD, MPH, RN

Colleagues, Collaborators, and Interested Constituencies:

It is such an honor to be here with you all at such an interesting time. While we have much uncertainty, we have a great deal of visibility in our field and an opportunity to activate our future workforce. I am going spend my time reflecting on some of the most important aspects of reproductive health, rights, and justice have long been overlooked — the role that structural racism, misogyny and misogynoir, patriarchy, and sexism have played in allowing our society to neglect the research, health, and human service needs of half of the population. I have organized my thoughts and offerings around three themes: 1) Reproductive Justice; 2) Community Impacts and Lived Experiences; and 3) Health Equity.

· Happy 30th anniversary to Reproductive Justice. 1994 was the year that marks the birth of Reproductive Justice. I was in Washington DC in June, 2024 to celebrate with many of the founding mothers of reproductive justice and to hear their remembrances, to heed their warnings, and celebrate their work. Unfortunately, I also got to see that many, travel with security detail because like me they are subject to violence and death threats — that are both annoying and completely unacceptable. As you consider the intersections of reproductive justice, violence IN ALL OF ITS FORMS, understand there are consequences to centering the lived experiences of the people we serve and I would highly suggest you listen to those of us on the front lines of service provision and research.

Fortunately, there was also MUCH wisdom in how reproductive justice informed people conceptualize many issues of our time that move us beyond the anger, anxiety, fear, and frustration many of us feel in this moment. The right to have children, to not, have children, to parent the children people already have — in safe and health environments free from violence from any individual, state, or government under a human rights framework should not be revolutionary in 2024, and yet here we are 30 years after this first conceptualization still hesitant to put this front and center. When you add in the human right to disassociate sex from reproduction and admit that consent, healthy sexuality, and pleasure are part of a whole human life — we embody a powerful counternarrative that can be effective at combating misinformation and disinformation.

· Next, it is important that we continue to center the communities most impacted by reproductive injustices. When we consider the entire reproductive trajectory from pregnancy, parenthood, birth, infertility, surrogacy, miscarriage, menopause and all the other experiences one can have as a sentient being on this earth, we must reflect on the fact that not all have access to the widest range of opportunities or options. This was the work I was doing at the UCSF Preterm Birth Initiative, the California Black Birth Equity Summit, the doula and midwifery collectives throughout California, and Black Women for Wellness.

· I highly recommend we need to stop accepting the lies, misinformation, and disinformation that come from those who seek to speak for those most impacted — I know. As a community driven, community led researcher where engagement is the floor, I have learned that the work we do is greatly improved both in scientific and cultural rigor that co-design of research this must become the standard of how we do our work. Determining the clinical, research, social, and political priorities of the constituencies we serve is not hard. My team and I developed a method — that many in this room have used. The public is clear, our ability to determine what they want, and need is not. This is why community engagement and partnership with people who have lived experiences is so critical. The people closest to a situation generally have the most innovative solutions. We need to listen to and partner with them. Healthcare reparations if you will, but that is another conversation…

· So let me fully connect the dots for you. Why reproductive health, rights, and justice are deeply intertwined with the work of futures without violence and the mitigation of all forms of violence including intimate partner violence, gun violence, lateral workplace violence, and war. Until we direct our attention to centering the margins of those people whose reproductive experiences have not been adequately explored, namely, the asexual, the disabled, the elderly, the menopausal, people who are not exclusively pregnant capable nor are interested in parenthood — in addition to those who do desire pregnancy and parenthood, we will never “have the assurance of the conditions of optimal health for all people.” Which is how my good colleague Dr. Camara Jones, past president of the American Public Health Association defines Health Equity. Violence in any form is incongruent with justice and frankly without the freedom of exploration and safety, all other rights are not guaranteed or protected. Reproductive justice is ground zero for bodily autonomy. Without it, other rights simply do not exist.

I would push us to consider futures where all reproductive trajectories could result in building healthcare infrastructure to get people what they need to optimize THEIR OWN goals for their lives. I remain grateful for this work and look forward to what the other panelists have to say and will answer any questions that you may have. Thank you.