This summer, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered back-to-back rulings ending the constitutional right to abortion in the United States and undercutting the federal government’s ability to regulate carbon pollution.
These two issues, once considered distinct, actually overlap significantly in the lives of millions of Americans.
Like the broader abortion rights movement, reproductive justice — a concept coined by women activists of color in 1994 — centers on the human right to bodily autonomy, including the decision whether or not to have children. It also gives extra consideration as to how race and class affect a person’s ability to seek abortion care and raise their children in healthy, sustainable communities.
