Women of Color and the Reproductive Rights Movement

Uncovers the truth behind the ideas, struggles, and eventually success of Black and Puerto Rican Nationalists regarding key feminist issues of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s While most people believe that the movement to secure voluntary reproductive control for women centered solely on abortion rights, for many women abortion was not the only, or even primary, focus. Jennifer Nelson tells the story of the feminist struggle for legal abortion and reproductive rights in the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s through the particular contributions of women of color. She explores the relationship between second-wave feminists, who were concerned with a woman's right to choose, Black and Puerto Rican Nationalists, who were concerned that Black and Puerto Rican women have as many children as possible “for the revolution,” and women of color themselves, who negotiated between them. Contrary to popular belief, Nelson shows that women of color were able to successfully remake the mainstream women's liberation and abortion rights movements by appropriating select aspects of Black Nationalist politics—including addressing sterilization abuse, access to affordable childcare and healthcare, and ways to raise children out of poverty—for feminist discourse. Frontmatter Acknowledgments (page ix) Introduction: From Abortion to Reproductive Rights (page 1) 1 "Let's hear it from the real experts": Feminism and the Early Abortion Rights Movement (page 21) 2 "An act of valor for a woman need not take place inside of her": Black Women, Feminism, and Reproductive Rights (page 55) 3 "An instrument of genocide": The Black Nationalist Campaign against Birth Control (page 85) 4 "Abortions under community control": Feminism, Nationalism, and the Politics of Reproduction among New York City's Young Lords (page 113) 5 Race, Class, and Sexuality: Reproductive Rights and the Campaign for an Inclusive Feminism (page 133) Conclusion (page 179) Notes (page 191) Index (page 221) About the Author (page 225)