Reproductive Justice Perspectives of Maternity Support Workers in Canada and the United States

• In Event: 208 - Regular Session. Sociology of Reproduction I: Reproductive Justice Perspectives, Advocacy, and Action

Abstract

The Reproductive Justice movement emphasizes the right to have children and to parent with dignity as well as the right not to have children, especially for poor women of color. Within this framework, abortion and birth rights are part of the same struggle against restrictions on provider availability, legality, and third-party reimbursement. However, there is long-standing disagreement about abortion among maternity support workers. Some doulas, childbirth educators, and labor and delivery nurses aim to improve all pregnancy-related experiences among women who already suffer within a race- and class-stratified political context. Others conceptually separate choices in pregnancy from choices in birth, and oppose abortion under most or all circumstances. Using responses to the Maternity Support Survey in the U.S. and Canada, we analyze maternity support workers’ attitudes toward reproductive justice issues, including abortion, maternal request cesarean delivery, and VBAC for mothers with a previous cesarean. We find that maternity support workers that identify with Christian religious traditions are more likely to believe that abortion should not be legal or should be legally restricted. Overall, there was limited support for cesarean delivery on maternal request (CDMR), but those who supported the legality of abortion were also more supportive of CDMR – representing adherence to a “choice” framework that applies to multiple reproductive issues. Maternity support workers who drew their inspiration from feminism were especially likely to support the legality of abortion and access to VBAC, suggesting that feminist beliefs promote a reproductive justice framing of both birth and abortion rights.

Authors

• Louise Marie Roth, University of Arizona

• Megan Henley, University of Arizona