Women, Poverty, and Reproductive Justice

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Blog Action Day- Poverty and Reproductive Justice
Candace Webb, Outreach Manager,
National Women's Law Center

Hi, I'm Candace Webb, and I'm one of the Outreach Managers for Health and Reproductive Rights here at the NWLC, and I wanted to use this opportunity on Blog Action Day 2008 to tell you why women's reproductive justice issues matter, and how its connected to women's economic security. A key component of reproductive justice is when women in families and girls will have the economic well-being and security to make healthy decisions about their own bodies, their sexuality, and the reproductive decisions about themselves, for their own selves, their families, and their communities. Apparently, poverty rates for women are higher than they are for men, and women are poorer than men regardless of which racial group we belong to.

African American women and Latinas are poorer than our female counterparts from other racial ethnic groups, and unfortunately, poorer women who struggle to make ends meet also have to deal with having a higher likelihood of unintended pregnancy, invasive cervical cancer, and higher rates of infant mortality. So I urge you to make a connection between reproductive justice and women's economic security issues, and work in your own communities to improve policies and strategies and programs that work to improve women's economic security in your own community because reproductive justice matters.

Thanks. For more information, visit the National Womens Law Center website.