Phyllis Jones Award - Spring '06

The Spring 2006 recipient was:

1. Jane Feustel
   Comparative American Studies Major
   
   Project Title: "Redefining a Movement: Race, Class, and Reproductive Rights Activism"
   
   Project Description: In this project I argue that historically and currently one's reproductive health is influenced by the racial and economic hierarchies existing in the U.S. Further, I question the extent to which mainstream, white-led reproductive rights organizations have acknowledged race and class as affecting women's health and access to services. This involves problematizing the paradigm of 'choice' (i.e. being 'pro-choice'), which makes certain capitalistic and neoliberal assumptions as well as obscures the social/historical/economic contexts in which women make 'choices.' In order to examine alternative, social justice-based frameworks to approach reproductive rights activism which transcend the limiting pro-choice/anti-choice binary, I draw upon interviews and participant observation done at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH). NLIRH's work of putting reproductive health into a multilingual, intersectional, and accessible framework serves as an important example of how to work toward reproductive justice for all women and people.