Reproductive Rights and Social Class

New Directions for Women was an extremely important early feminist movement that began in the 1970s as a simple newsletter. It quickly gained popularity and eventually became a tabloid-sized, quarterly newspaper. The paper offered news reports from feminist perspectives along with book reviews, women’s history articles, and editorials. New Directions for Women was the first national feminist newspaper in the United States and was able to inspire millions of feminist thinkers after its publication ended in 1993.  

The second article that begins on the first page of the newspaper, titled “Proposed Fetal Disposal Act “Punitive” to Women”, is a very important piece within this specific publication that highlights the inequalities of reproductive justice for women in a lower social class. The article starts with the line “Legislators have found another opportunity to regulate women seeking autonomy over their own bodies.” This line sets up the rest of the article, but it is also shocking to hear almost 40 years later when women are still facing these issues. However, this article is more about what happens to the fetus once the abortion is completed, something that we really aren’t fighting for today. The article introduces a new bill that legislation in New Jersey is trying to get passed that women considering abortion or who have a spontaneous abortion must fill out a form indicating their preferences for the disposal of the fetal tissue in a more honorable way (burial, cremation, etc.). An observer in the article made the point that requiring these more “honorable” disposals of tissue will just make abortions more expensive, thus increasing the number of self-induced abortions to be occurring. Raising the price of abortions would dramatically affect women in a lower socioeconomic class that can not afford them. The article continues with personal accounts from multiple observers and their thoughts on the bill. 

This article goes along with the main concern of our exhibit because it highlights one of the many injustices that women face daily when it comes to reproductive health. Although this article emphasizes the effects that new bills, laws, and more have on women in lower socioeconomic classes, it also has the underlying message of the persistent feminist movement of reproductive rights for women.