Loretta Ross
A lifelong fighter for reproductive justice. Loretta Ross’ story begins in hardship: At age 11 she was kidnapped and raped and at 15 she was forced to have a baby conceived when she was sexually assaulted by a relative. So, when Ross talks about reproductive justice, a term she helped create in the early ‘90s, it’s clear that she’s speaking from her gut. According to SisterSong, the Atlanta-based women's network Ross cofounded, reproductive justice goes beyond maintaining legal access to abortion. It covers “the right to have children, not have children, and to parent the children we have in safe and healthy environments." This intentionally broad frame invites people to examine how complex issues such as poverty and structural racism intersect with abortion rights.Ross has been an activist for women for her entire life: In the ‘70s, when she was 23, a medically flawed IUD left her sterile, and Ross successfully sued its manufacturer. In 1979, she became the director of the D.C. Rape Crisis Center, one of few in the country led by women of color. And, before the relative ease of Internet organizing today, Ross helped plan major events including the 2004 March for Women’s Lives that brought more than one million demonstrators to the National Mall. Today, Ross is finishing up a doctorate in women’s studies at Emory, and when there’s a fight she’s right there speaking, writing, and guiding the next generation of women demanding reproductive justice.
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| a powerful woman - Loretta Ross, lifelong fighter for reproductive justice |
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