The reproductive justice framework was coined in 1994 by Black feminist activists.

Evidence

In June 1994, Ross was among twelve Black feminist activists attending a pro-choice conference in Chicago who felt that the healthcare agenda presented by representatives from the Clinton administration was too concerned with avoiding Republican opposition and did not adequately address concerns of Black women around sexual and reproductive autonomy. These issues included maternal mortality, evidence-based sex education, and whether women could afford abortions or preventative reproductive healthcare. … These Black feminists decided to caucus separately and came up with the term “reproductive justice” to describe a new framework that included the human right to have children and to raise them with dignity in a safe, healthy, and supportive environment, along with the right not to have a child, which dominated pro-choice advocacy. — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 239

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘reproductive justice’ precisely, distinguishing its inclusion of the right to have children and raise them with dignity from abortion-only ‘pro-choice’ advocacy.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s case study interest in how a marginal group’s reframing counters a dominant framing, parallel to the 1619 Project’s own origin-story reframing.