Reproductive justice: queer and trans* reproduction
Reproductive justice is a theoretical analytical concept, an anti-essentialist, intersectional political program and also an activist movement.
Cooperation partner in Graz: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Martina Schmidhuber (Project Management until October 2024), afterwards: administrative support by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Juliane Jarke (until February 2025) and Univ.-Prof. Dr. Martina Bär (until Spring 2025)
Junior Fellow: Dipl.-Ing. Caroline Hammer, MA
Incoming Senior Fellow: Dr. Doris Leibetseder
Incoming Junior Fellow: Elif Gül, BA, MSc
Period: September 2023 - Spring 2025
Symposium: February 22-23, 2024 at the Meerscheinschlössl, Mozartgasse 3, 8010 Graz, follow this link to the program
The origin of the movement lies in the reproductive health organizations of women of color in the USA in the 1980s and 1990s. Working groups and events on this topic are still taking place today, e.g. at UC Berkeley (US) and the University of Cambridge (UK). In Germany, there have only been publications and events on reproductive justice since 2021 (Ediger 2021, Heinrich Böll Foundation 2022, Kitchen Politics 2021).
The theoretical framework of reproductive justice consists of at least 3 main aspects:
1. the right to have a child under conditions of one's own choosing
2. the right not to have a child with the help of contraception, abortion or sexual abstinence
3. the right to raise children in a safe and healthy environment free from individual and state violence (Ross/Solinger 2017).
In 2012, younger activists added a fourth principle: the human right to sexual autonomy, sexual self-determination and sexual pleasure. (Ross 2021).
With this conceptual framework of reproductive justice, it quickly becomes clear where intersectional inequalities and injustices can be found in reproductive challenges. Queer and trans* people demand reproductive justice in order to enjoy the same reproductive opportunities as heterosexual or cis people, because reproduction can also be part of their idea of a good life.
The aim of the project is to highlight various strands of injustice for queer and trans* people and to point out ways on how to improve them.