Marching Toward Reproductive Justice: Coalitional (Re) Framing of the March for Women’s Lives*

Abstract

This article examines how coalition frames develop and what happens to that frame after the formal coalition ends. To that end, I analyze the frame shift around the 2004 March for Women's Lives (March). The March initially focused on established ideas of reproductive rights around which the four national mainstream co-sponsors previously organized. However, after a newer reproductive justice organization joined the coalition, material and organizing reflected a shift in framing to reproductive justice. How did this change happen? What are the impacts of this event for the women's movement? Through document analysis and interviews, I trace the negotiations that facilitated this framing shift. I argue that this new coalition frame translated into positive lasting changes in organizing for women's reproductive health even as the coalition dissolved and some of the tensions within the larger women's movement remain.

Indigenous Peoples of North America: Environmental Exposures and Reproductive Justice

“…As such, reproductive justice, a term that has not yet appeared in the environmental health literature, embeds reproductive rights in an intersectional framework that includes social justice and human rights (Luna 2010). Reproductive justice stresses both individual and group rights because the ability of a woman to determine her reproductive destiny is in many cases directly tied to conditions in her community (Shen 2006).…”

Social movement coalitions: Formation, longevity, and success

“…Beamish & Luebbers, 2009;Di Gregorio, 2012;Ellingson, Woodley, & Paik, 2012;Grossman, 2001;Haydu, 2012;Khagram, 2004;Lichterman, 1995;Mix, 2011;Murphy, 2005;Park, 2008;Shaffer, 2000;Stearns & Almeida, 2004 Just as a full understanding of social movement activity requires that we study individual participation in collective action and the role of organizations in mobilization, so too do we need to study the origins and dynamics of organizational collaboration. For example, because frames are often developed through interchanges between coalition partners, failing to examine organizational interaction, including cooperation and conflict, could result in a misspecified explanation of the frame's origin (Croteau & Hicks, 2003;Luna, 2010).…”

The Ethnic Dimensions in Social Movements*

“…On the border between group-oriented and issue-oriented movements are the also include "intersectional" movements that explicitly link ethnic subordination issues to another issue. Examples of intersectional movements include the environmental justice movement (Capek 1993;Checker 2004;Marquez 1998;Novotny 1995;Perrolle 1993) and the movement of women of color for reproductive rights (Cole and Luna 2010;Luna 2009;Luna 2010;Luna 2011) or the Black Lives Matter movement that focuses on police violence.…”

“…But the same problems of cultural differences and hierarchies of privilege make genuine collaboration in such movements difficult to sustain without special attention to the problem. The constructs of reproductive justice as opposed to reproductive rights (Luna and Luker 2013;Luna 2010) arose from minority critiques of the reproductive rights movement, and the "environmental justice" frame arose from a criticism of White-dominated environmentalist groups. Lichterman (1995) showed how Black and White grass roots environmental groups with explicit multicultural goals but different cultural styles had trouble interacting.…”