We are Asian Americans who support Reproductive Justice for all in Virginia.

Reproductive Justice, a term coined by Black women in 1994 to center the perspectives of women and trans people of color in the movement, is a human rights framework used to address and dismantle the many systemic barriers that affect people’s ability to make decisions regarding their bodies, families, and communities. It is an individual’s right to:

1. have a child, and decide the conditions in which to give birth;
2. not have a child, including access to all options for ending or preventing pregnancy while being treated with dignity;
3. and parent the children they have in safe, supportive communities free from violence and oppression.

In the past years, our rights to abortion and contraception, as well as reproductive, sexual, and gender-inclusive education, have been jeopardized. Now, Virginia is the last state in the South to still allow abortions up to 26 weeks (or the third trimester). As patients and providers encounter more and more restrictions, it is imperative that we push for solutions to protect our right to make reproductive and sexual health decisions for ourselves.

Reproductive justice recognizes that the identities that we hold – and how they intersect with each other – uniquely impact our social, economic, and healthcare needs. Coupled with conservative values that some of our communities have internalized, many Asian Americans face other everyday systemic barriers (e.g. economic hardship, language inaccessibility, immigration/legal challenges) which negatively impact access to quality reproductive care and education. This is especially true for our most marginalized community members – working-class people, non-citizens, disabled people, LGBTQ+ people, survivors of gender-based violence, and more.

Thus, reproductive justice is intertwined with the work Hamkae Center is already doing: advocating for affordable healthcare, immigrant rights, language access, economic opportunity, and inclusive education for all. Reproductive justice issues are Asian American issues.