Social Work and Reproductive Justice

Reproductive justice (RJ) is a social justice orientation undergirded by the right to sexual, gender, and bodily autonomy. It consists of three core tenets: 1) the right to have a child, 2) the right to not have a child, and 3) the right to raise a child in safe and sustainable communities. It is a movement that focuses on uplifting and empowering the voices of individuals who have been historically oppressed, a movement that is a natural fit with social work's orientation of social justice, empowering marginalized groups, and more. This book takes each core tenet of RJ and explores them through a social work lens, seamlessly mapping core ethics and values of social work onto the praxis of RJ. Written by interdisciplinary authors of many identities, Social Work and Reproductive Justice introduces readers to the foundations of RJ as applied to social work through history and ethics, followed by an exploration of how the main tenets of RJ apply to areas of social work including work with abortion, confronting infertility, social work practice in fetal care centers, environmental justice advocacy, resources in schools, intervention in prison environments, and more. Each chapter concludes with a Voices from the Field section that features the real-life work of RJ advocates "doing the work" in the field.