ATTENTION PLEASE! We are in the process of updating all A SACReD Journey online resources. While most resources match the updated curriculum, there are some misalignments across the modules. We apologize for any frustration or complication this adds to your facilitation of the ASJ Curriculum. We aim to have all modules updated by early April. If you have questions please reach out to Kentina Washington-Leapheart: [email protected]. Thank you for being with us on this journey! 

• Playlist
• Reproductive Justice Timeline

CONTENT WARNING

This module examines historical oppressions that have impacted Reproductive Justice. The content addresses many types of violence and abuse, including sexual violence, homophobia, transphobia, medical violence, enslavement, racial violence, conversion therapy, neglect, adoption, and incarceration. These may bring up painful feelings or memories for participants. Please care for yourself in this session. If you need to step away or take a break, please do so.

This is the first session that will begin with the RJ Show & Tell. RJ Show & Tell is an activity that develops participants’ ability to identify Reproductive Justice issues in their daily lives and across their communities. Through show-and-tell, participants will expand their understanding of Reproductive Justice issues and identify overlapping and intersecting issues. This activity is intended to create some helpful sharing and community building in 10–15 minutes. We have built this time in before the official start of the session, but you may want to extend the conversation at the end of the session or use this exercise during another social gathering of your group. Whenever you do it, we hope it is a helpful practice in applying all you are learning in this curriculum. It is intended to be participant-led. The facilitator should only observe that conversations are following the established Community Covenant and that everyone is engaged in a conversation. However, facilitators should prepare examples to model the exercise for participants this first time.

For each session, invite participants to bring into the space something related to a personal or communal experience of Reproductive Justice. Appropriate items might be a story from media, community, political, or personal life, including but not limited to: art, music, video, community events, fliers, news, social media, political happenings, etc. When possible, participants should bring in a physical representation of their story (for example: photos, videos, links, lyric sheets, articles, artifacts, etc). All show-and-tell materials should connect to a Reproductive Justice tenet.

Reproductive Justice is the human right to:

• Maintain personal bodily autonomy
• Have children
• Not have children
• Parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities

Instructions:

Take a minute to jot down your responses to the “I see, I think, I wonder” prompt.
Find a partner or small group of people to introduce your RJ item and share your BRIEF responses to the prompts.

Make sure you note the RJ Show & Tell items about which you want to learn more. All items should directly speak to one of the Reproductive Justice tenets.

RJ Show & Tell Prompts:

• “I see…” — What RJ issues do you see happening in your example? (How is the RJ framework lacking in this example? To which tenet does your item relate?)
• “I think…” — What do you think is happening in this situation? (Think about what systems of oppression or traditional religious teachings you suspect are at work)
• “I wonder…” — Wonder to yourself: How could this be different? (What would you advocate or work toward to make this different?)

Visio Divina is Latin for divine seeing. It allows us to encounter the divine through images. Today, we will begin by using an image for contemplation, reflection, and meditation. The goal of this practice is to view an image slowly and carefully, allowing space for inspiration to come from a piece of visual art. Multiple rounds of reflection questions reveal different layers of meaning for ourselves and our communities. We will have 4 rounds of reflection with a different focus at each step. See the Resource Page for more information on visio divina and to access the image.

We will use the image of the Mothers of Gynecology Monument created by Michelle Browder.

Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsey were enslaved women in and around Montgomery, Alabama. They endured exploitation through dozens of nonconsensual experimental surgeries by Dr. J. Marion Sims in the 1840s. He became known as the Father of Gynecology, while others who knew the nature of his experiments call him “Father Butcher.” In contrast, Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsey were largely forgotten in history until recent efforts to share their stories.

In 2021, Michelle Browder created the Mothers of Gynecology monument (https://www.anarchalucybetsey.org/). It stands 15 feet tall on the More Up Campus in Montgomery, Alabama, not far from where the medical experimentation happened.

Choose an Image

Choose one of the images from this page of the monument’s website

OR 

Video (Watch without Sound, Time 2:10-5:20)

Reflection Prompts (if using video, please adjust these accordingly)

1. Look at the image and let your eyes stay with the first thing you see. Focus your attention on the part of the image that first catches your eye. Try to keep your eyes from wandering to other parts of the picture. Breathe deeply and let yourself gaze at that part of the image for a minute or so.
2. Let your eyes now gaze at the whole image. Take your time and look at every part of the photograph. See it all. Reflect on the image for a minute or so.
3. Consider the following questions:
   • What emotions does this image evoke in you?
   • What does the image stir up or bring forth in you?
   • Does this image lead you into an attitude of prayer or meditation? If so, let these prayers take form in you. You can write them down if you wish.
4. Take a final moment of silence in prayer or set an intention based on what the image brought up for you

Alternative Opening:

Offer a prayer or reading from your own tradition that invites people to be open to different experiences, or select one from the bank found on the Resource Page.

• Introduction instructions in the chat: Name, Pronouns, What is one word or sound that represents how you are feeling or arriving?
• Are there any themes or pressing content that came up in your RJ Show and Tell discussions?

This community affirms the following guiding principles:

• The dignity of sacred bodies and the moral agency of all people deserve respect, including the bodily autonomy and agency of women, queer people, gender-expansive people, people with disabilities, immigrants, Indigenous communities, and people of color who have often been denied this respect.
• All creation is good and includes a beautiful diversity of sacred bodies, sexualities, and reproductive journeys.
• Pregnancy can be unintentional, but parenting is a sacred journey that requires intentional discernment. Prayerful decisions to have children, to not have children, or to end a pregnancy are equally moral.

• What are your initial thoughts about these Guiding Principles?
• How do they resonate with your own personal values and beliefs? Your faith community’s?
• What part(s) feel sticky to you? What questions linger before you could say “yes!” to the Guiding Principles?
• With whom would you need to speak to confirm your faith community’s alignment with the Guiding Principles?

CONTENT WARNING

This exercise includes content that addresses many types of violence and abuse, including sexual violence, homophobia, transphobia, medical violence, enslavement, racial violence, neglect, and adoption. These may bring up painful feelings or memories for participants. Please care for yourself in this session. If you need to step away or take a break, please do so.

Worksheet 4.1 Reproductive Justice Timeline Events

• What story does this timeline tell? Is it a story of progress? Are there places or times that progress happened for some social groups at the expense of others?
• Where on this timeline do you see the following intersectional oppressions at work?
• How do you see them work together?
  • Racism
  • Patriarchy
  • Economic Exploitation
  • White Christian Nationalism
  • Other forms of oppression or marginalization
  • Faith Community Response
  • What pieces or orders of this history were a surprise to you?
  • What is missing from the timeline? What other events would you add?

• How do your own major reproductive events fit into this historical timeline?
• Where will you and your faith community exist in this ongoing story?

Turnaway Study
Video: Vox — “How Abortion Bans Make Inequality Worse” (The Turnaway Study) (10:46)

• Who can summarize the video and lessons learned?
• What did you reflect on in your journal?
• As reproductive healthcare becomes harder to access due to legislative bans and increased regulations, how will the results of the Turnaway Study multiply?
• How do social service cuts and medical racism compound those results?

• More children are born into poverty, and their parents have reduced upward economic mobility.
• The maternal mortality crisis, which disproportionately affects Black women, is worsening.
• Hospitals in rural areas are eliminating labor and delivery departments, putting OB/GYN care out of reach for pregnant people.
• Cuts to the social safety net, like Medicaid, WIC, SNAP (food stamps), and childcare tax credits, leave parents to fend for themselves.
• Parents of transgender children struggle to access gender-affirming healthcare, which means these children are more vulnerable to gender based violence and suicide.

• Who benefits from these policies?
• Who is harmed by these policies?
• Who has power and agency in these stories?
• How are moral judgments, stereotypes, and stigmas about reproductive decisions showing up for each person?
• How are the tenets of Reproductive Justice upheld or violated in the stories you heard in the video?

CONTENT WARNING

This exercise includes content that addresses many types of violence and abuse, including sexual violence, homophobia, medical violence, racial violence, conversion therapy, neglect, adoption, and incarceration. These may bring up painful feelings or memories for participants. Please care for yourself in this session. If you need to step away or take a break, please do so.

• Case Study 1: The Hill — Story of mother sentenced to jail for enrolling child in different district resurfaced amid college scandal
• Case Study 2: Texas Observer — The Fear – and Hope – of Living in Sanctuary
• Case Study 3: MPR — “I’ve never told anyone”: Stories of Life in Indian Boarding Schools
• Case Study 4: People — Conversion Therapy Survivor Recalls Surrendering His Life to His Pastor for Two Years
• Case Study 5: TIME — For People with Disabilities, Losing Abortion Access Can Be a Matter of Life or Death
• Case Study 6: Immigration and Human Rights Law Review — Reproductive Violence at the Hands of ICE 
• Case Study 7: Sojourners — For Decades, Churches Forced Unwed Mothers Into Adoptions

In small groups, review a particular case and consider:

• How are dignity, moral agency, and bodily autonomy challenged in this case study?
• What are the intersectional oppression issues?
• How are the tenets of Reproductive Justice upheld or violated in the case?
• How would a liberative theological and Reproductive Justice approach improve the circumstances in the case? What concrete things would change and why?

Allow each group to briefly report back to the whole class. Following those shares, ask the whole group to discuss the following questions:

•  How similar or different would your faith tradition’s approach to the case be. compared to a liberative theological approach in support of Reproductive Justice?
•  If there are differences, what are they exactly, and how central to your tradition’s core values are those differences?
• How would a liberative response to this injustice change your community?

1. Prepare your RJ Show and Tell item
2. Review the glossary definitions of Emotionally Attracted To, Gender, Gender Expression/Presentation, Gender Identity, Gender Roles, Intersex, LGBTQIA+, Physically Attracted To, Sex, Sex Assigned at Birth or Birth Assigned Sex, Sexuality, and Sexual Orientation
3. Watch the following videos to prepare for the next module
   • Video: AMAZE Org “What is Sexuality?” (2:45)
   • Video: Psych2Go “Sex vs Gender vs Orientation” (5:02)
   • Video: As/Is “What It’s Like To Be Intersex” (3:25)
4. Journal and reflect on the following questions:
   • What did you learn from these videos? Was there anything new to you?
   • What are some of the norms and beliefs you have learned about gender identity, gender roles, and sexuality?
   • How conscious of these beliefs and norms have you been? Do you still agree with or hold these beliefs? Why or why not?

Please make yourself comfortable, close your eyes, and listen to these words from poet, Lucille Clifton. Lucille Clifton, “blessing the boats” from How to Carry Water: Selected Poems of Lucille Clifton. Copyright ©1991 by Lucille Clifton. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC on behalf of BOA Editions Ltd., https://www.boaeditions.org.

Alternative Closing:

Offer a prayer or reading from your own tradition or select one from the bank found on the Resource Page.