The Power of Storytelling in Reproductive Justice

By Margaret Tews

Last summer after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the case that codified the federal right to abortion, news publications, personal blogs, celebrities, and people on social media platforms, bravely told the stories about their abortion and how Roe v. Wade had impacted their lives. 

The New York Times published interactive short stories from people of a range of ages and reasons. The people who spoke out shared these stories because many activists believe it can normalize and de-stigmatize abortion.

Access to safe and legal abortion is just one part of the broader idea of reproductive justice, a belief that “all women have the right to have children, the right to not have children, and the right to nurture the children we have in a safe and healthy environment,” according to The National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda. 

On April 24, UWM hosted a networking event called “The Power of Stories in Advancing Reproductive Justice,” to discuss the importance of telling stories about reproductive issues and the impact they can have. 

The Center for 21st Century Studies (C21) brought four community leaders that have worked in reproductive justice in different ways.

“We can pass our knowledge to other communities,” said Maria Barker, director of community education at Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. 

Barker is a first-generation American. She arrived in Waukesha from Atotonilco, Durango, Mexico when she was seven years old. 

The aim of the event was to gather community partners working toward reproductive justice and acknowledging the “systemic injustice disproportionately affecting Black, Latinx, and other women and trans people of color.” 

“To know justice is to live injustice,” said Barker. 

There was a panel of four community members including Barker. It included:

• Heddy Keith, a retired masters teacher, founder and CEO of the Center for Leadership of Afrikan Women’s Wellness (CLAWW)
• Katinka Hooyer, a medical anthropologist and assistant professor at the Center for Healthy Communities and Research at the Medical College of Wisconsin. 
• Anne Basting, an English professor at UWM and founder of TimeSlips.org. 

Storytelling in Reproductive Justice 

Hooyer spoke about how she uses storytelling in her research on trauma in veterans, and how it gaves them a place to tell their stories. She acknowledges that not everyone has the option to participate in an academic study, but said just listening is essential. 

“The first layer of justice is action in listening to someone on a very personal level,” said Hooyer.

The next layer of justice is using their stories and sharing them with people outside of their community. 

The power of storytelling is utilized best when someone is able to tell their own story and it is not extracted from them for someone else to share. 

Basting said it is important to “give people the power to see where their story goes.”  

Reproductive justice involves fertility, access to menstruation products, access to birth control and doctors. 

The National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda writes that “at its core, reproductive justice is defined as the belief that all women have the right to have children, the right to not have children, and the right to nurture the children we have in a safe and healthy environment.”

“While the topics of reproductive health vary, stories as a practice, tool, or resource weave our individual works together,” was written in the pamphlet handed to participants of the event. 

“There is an impact to the accumulation of stories,” said Basting. 

Artwork at the event told stories that involved reproductive loss, Black infant mortality rates, and obstetric violence in the Caribbean and male experiences with infertility. 

Keith’s foundation, CLAWW, focuses on healing trauma in Black women in Milwaukee. 

The website writes, “what is essential to our community is connecting support, services, programs, and resources to aid in the healing of Black women, to empower the mothers to raise healthy happy children.” 

Abortion in Wisconsin 

The grassroots organization Reproductive Justice Action Milwaukee was formed in response to Roe v. Wade being overturned. In collaboration with the board of Milwaukee County Supervisors, Reproductive Justice Action Milwaukee passed a resolution that states Milwaukee did not support overturning Roe v. Wade. 

The group is currently working on a resolution that would make investigating and prosecuting abortion cases the lowest priority of criminal investigations in Milwaukee County. 

“After they tried to take our rights from us, I am more aware of the rights we could lose,” said Keith. “Not because I want to have an abortion but because it might affect my granddaughters or nieces.” 

In April, the Supreme Court blocked a lower court ruling that suspended the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, also known as the “abortion pill.” 

The FDA approved mifepristone in 2000. 

Misoprostol is another commonly used abortion drug, but is not a part of this lawsuit. In medical abortions, it is common for both drugs to be used. Mifepristone blocks progesterone, a hormone necessary to maintain pregnancy, and is taken first. 

Misoprostol empties the uterus by causing the cervix to soften and dilate, and the uterus to contract. It can be used safely on its own, but is less effective when not paired with mifepristone, according to a study funded by the Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. 

Doctors also prescribe these drugs for miscarriage care and management. 

SCOTUS blocking the lower court ruling that removed the FDA regulation of mifepristone is not a ruling. They stopped the banning of mifepristone while the underlying lawsuit attacking it works its way up the court system. The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard the case on May 17. 

It is likely the lawsuit against Mifepristone will eventually be heard by the SCOTUS. 

In Wisconsin, neither Mifepristone or Misoprostol can be legally prescribed by a doctor for the purpose of abortion. But people in Wisconsin can obtain mifepristone online through sites such as Aidaccess.org.