Celebrating 4 Reproductive Justice Heroes for Black History Month

SisterSong defines reproductive justice  as the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities. As a company founded on the belief that all people — regardless of income, gender, race, or geography — have a right to reproductive health care, GenBioPro has deep respect for these values.

We recognize that the reproductive justice movement is a collective effort and applaud the countless individuals who contribute toward its vision — be they community organizers, health care providers, doulas, lawyers, or others. We also draw inspiration from the work of specific individuals within the movement. That is why for Black History Month, we are honoring four people whose contributions to reproductive justice inspire us.

Loretta J. Ross. Activist, public intellectual, and Professor Loretta Ross was among the twelve women who coined the term “reproductive justice” at a meeting in Chicago in 1994. Since then, Ross has continued to break new ground in social justice and human rights. In recent years, Ross has dedicated much of her energy to creating an alternative to cancel culture that is grounded in accountability and love — including in her most recent book, Calling In: How to Start Making Change with Those You’d Rather Cancel.

“How we handle that anger will determine whether we build something or burn something down.” ~Loretta Ross in an interview produced by Life Stories

Dr. DeShawn Taylor, MD, FACOG. Our own Medical Director, Dr. DeShawn Taylor, lives her values every day as a health care provider, advocate, and author. In addition to running the Desert Star Institute for Family Planning in Arizona, Dr. Taylor also dedicates time to “help[ing] organizations apply a justice lens to new and emerging commitments for reproductive health and rights.” In 2023 Dr. Taylor published Undue Burden: A Black, Woman Physician on Being Christian and Pro-Abortion in the Reproductive Justice Movement to educate and motivate potential advocates for reproductive justice.

“The reproductive justice framework analyzes how our ability to determine our own reproductive destiny is linked directly to the conditions of our community — and it’s time for us to move beyond the individual to include the social support necessary for decisions to be optimized.” ~Dr. DeShawn Taylor 

Candace Bond-Theriault, JD, LLM. Candace Bond-Theriault works in many ways to educate and advocate for reproductive justice, most recently as an author, Adjunct Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Howard University, and Associate Director for Movement Building at Dēmos, a think tank for the Racial Justice Movement. In 2024 Bond-Theriault published Queering Reproductive Justice: An Invitation with the aim of offering “a unified path for attaining reproductive justice for LGBTQIA+ people.”

“I wrote this book to remind us, the advocates, that transformational movement work itself outlasts presidential administrations. Yes, our work often shifts focuses; nevertheless, it continues to exist and evolve.” ~Candace Bond-Theriault describing Queering Reproductive Justice: An Invitation 

Nikia Grayson, DNP, MPH, MA, CNM, FNP-C. Nikia Grayson’s extensive and varied educational background has prepared her well as an advocate, educator, and nurse-midwife. In her role as Chief Clinical Officer for Choices Center for Reproductive Health in Tennessee and beyond, Grayson works to recruit and train a new generation of midwives and birth workers of colors in the south and create new models of care that integrate midwifery and center Black and brown communities. Her work draws inspiration from the significant history of Black midwifery in the United States.

“Today’s American reproductive health care system has moved to a place where we see overregulation and overmedicalization of birth that has led to an increase in C-sections, an increase in interventions, and a loss of bodily autonomy for Black pregnant people.” ~Nikia Grayson in a TEDxMemphis Talk, “How Black Midwives Can Help our Broken Maternal Healthcare System” 

These four trailblazers illustrate so beautifully the diversity and ingenuity of the reproductive justice movement. We hope you will join us in celebrating their contributions this February and all year as we do our own small part toward making a world where everyone can access high-quality, comprehensive reproductive health care.