Whose March Is It?
Pandora L. Leong directs the Teen Health Initiative at the New York Civil Liberties Union.
At last Sunday's march on Washington, I marched with a group of young people who reflected the composition of New York City. As we made our way through the masses of mostly white women, I wondered when this movement is going to look like me. I have gotten used to being one of the few brown faces in demonstrations about abortion rights or breast cancer or domestic violence. It's not that these issues don't affect communities of color: because of the concurrent effects of racism and poverty, they often affect us more. However, the multiple challenges our communities face can deprive us of the energy to make abortion rights a priority.
All marches need numbers; how many people you turn out amplifies the statement you are making. While news outlets and the organizers offer their competing estimates, I'm curious about the demographics. Numerous stories about the March for Women's Lives this past Sunday emphasize the broad age range, "this wasn't just your mother's feminism out on the mall."
I'm proud to have helped create possibly the biggest march on DC in history but I doubt that this was my mother's feminism, or perhaps even mine. The one-size-fits-all type of feminism on display at the march hurts the movement overall. This is too bad"because the reproductive rights movement has a lot to gain by crafting an agenda that resonates outside its core constituency. By expanding their platform beyond simply abortion, they could mobilize people of color and low-income women to join their ranks.
What's In A Name
The march organizers should be commended for their attempts to incorporate the faces of women of color. However, in order to grow as a movement, they need to also include our voices.
When planning for the march began last autumn, it was originally named the "March for Choice." This winter"in an effort to expand the appeal of the event"the march was re-branded as the March for Women's Lives. The words "choice, justice, access, health, abortion, global" and "family planning" encircled the new logo. The slogans on display Sunday""it's your choice, not theirs" "stand up for choice" "keep abortion legal""suggest that organizers may have changed the name but they did not change the core focus of the event.
Late last summer four major women's organizations decreed that there would be a pro-choice march in D.C. this spring. The word trickled down that those of us who work on reproductive health care should rally together and make it the biggest possible gathering. The four groups opened an office devoted to planning the march. The original four's executive directors"all middle-aged white women"embarked on a speaking tour. That is to say, they contacted their local affiliates and other politically sympathetic organizations and told us to hold forums for them to spread the word.
For a movement that recognizes the need for more female faces in positions of power, it's striking to look around and see so few brown faces. For feminists of color within the movement, we've grown used to the insensitive comments, mispronounced names and our invisibility"except when they need a Benetton photo.
Expanding The Reproductive Rights Agenda
Reproductive rights include many concerns besides the right to abortion. Accurate education about sexuality issues, affordable health insurance and the economic ability to support the children women may want to have are all part of an inclusive reproductive rights agenda. In fact, many of the abortion issues receiving the most attention"like the Unborn Victims of Violence Act"may pose the greatest threat to women who wish to carry their babies to term and raise them. When courts intervene to charge pregnant women for using substances while pregnant or for refusing medical treatment (See Policing Pregnancy)"more often than not the women charged are women of color.
Traditional women's organizations may work on these issues, but they don't give them much airplay. Consequently, the public doesn't associate the reproductive rights movement with an agenda beyond the right to an abortion.
Just three years after Roe v Wade was decided, Congress approved the Hyde Amendment which prohibits funding for abortion for poor women and women in the military. We know about Roe but do we hear the story of Rosie Jimenez who died from an illegal abortion a year after Hyde passed? While reproductive rights for white and middle-class women has become associated with the "right to terminate pregnancy," women of color and poor women often must fight for the right to procreate. It wasn't that long ago that communities of color were subject to forced sterilization; even today Project Prevention (formerly CRACK) induces women with substance abuse problems to be sterilized in exchange for cash.
Global family planning was mentioned on Sunday, but not general issues of health. The word "justice" appeared prominently on the march logo. For many communities of color, justice has a lot more to do with disparities in social services and racial profiling than "choice." If choice is to have real meaning, women must have the economic and educational opportunities to shape their own lives"not just the legal right to abortion when at least one thing has already gone wrong. The abortion rights movement fears diluting its message by acknowledging these realities"thereby isolating itself and limiting the movement's appeal to its traditional audience. Reproductive rights are just one of the issues feminists of color mobilize around; we're trying to create a world based on social justice.
Additionally for many communities, housing, jobs, police brutality and immigration law all shape our lives in more relentless ways; however, the feminist movement has been largely silent on racial and economic issues. If the movement isn't speaking to us, why should we let it speak for us?
After the absence of people of color was pointed out to the organizers of the March for Women's Lives, two groups representing women of color were recruited to sign on as principle organizers. On Sunday, the young people I marched with were pleasantly surprised to feel so welcome in such a white crowd. They also experienced it as a march about abortion. We agree that the right to abortion is important because it allows a woman to control her body and her life"but that is only the beginning. The majority of the speakers at the March for Women's Lives still did not address the majority of concerns"reproductive or otherwise"affecting most women's lives.
The National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health printed shirts that read: "Health. Dignity. Justice." For the mainstream groups in the feminist movement to expand their base of support, they need to follow this lead and talk about the issues that concern all women. That would include the right to abortion, but it would also include much more.
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Published: Apr 30 2004
