Miriam Pérez's blog

Surrogacy is a complicated subject, to say the least. It involves many of the issues central to reproductive justice—bodily autonomy, a woman’s right to abortion, definitions of parenthood, and custody of children. It’s also an option increasingly relied upon by gay couples—usually gay men—to create families. It invariably brings up concerns about racial and economic justice when the majority of surrogates are low-income and many are women of color. It’s an issue on which few reproductive rights and justice groups are working on but one that deserves our close attention.

Thanks to a history of expansive access to midwifery care and a number of big legislative gains, low-income women in Washington State now have more birthing options than most women around the country.

Upwardly-mobile moms may finally be catching on to the benefits of midwifery and homebirth, but low-income women are still firmly planted in the hospital, most often with medicalized births overseen by doctors.

When the media covers the rising rate of c-section, it’s often ready to lay the blame at the feet of a woman we’re come to know well over the last few years -- the busy career mom scheduling her delivery between important business deals. But while some moms may be requesting surgical birth, research shows that has little to do with the overall increase in c-section rates nationwide.

During a time when abortion politics are the wedge issue dividing the social justice movement, some doulas are working across issue lines to provide women with the support they need for all their decisions.

Diverse women tell their birth stories in playwright Karen Brody's "Birth," now playing in New York City.

Why should members of the LGBTQI communities care about abortion rights? Because reproductive justice is about much more than abortion - and building a powerful movement requires diversity, respect and a clear vision of the ways in which we are all connected.