Pro-Palestine, Reproductive Justice Organizers at DNC Say They’re Fighting for Same Things

Natalia Latif, a spokesperson and organizer for the pro-Palestine Uncommitted Movement, says “supporting reproductive rights here and genocide abroad” are incompatible positions.

By Kylie Cheung  |  August 20, 2024 | 1:05pm
Photos: Shout Your Abortion! AbortionPolitics Democratic National Convention
Pro-Palestine, Reproductive Justice Organizers at DNC Say They’re Fighting for Same Things

CHICAGO — The Democratic National Convention began on Monday, and pro-Palestine protesters and organizers demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and an arms embargo to Israel are an unavoidable, powerful feature of the convention. On Monday afternoon, the DNC held its first-ever panel discussion on Palestinian human rights after a months-long push from activists amid the Gaza genocide. Teen Vogue reports that some 50,000 protesters—four times the number of protesters in 1968—are expected at the DNC this week.

For months now, these same protesters and critics of the Biden-Harris administration over their continued funding of Israel’s genocide have been implicitly and explicitly accused of helping to elect Donald Trump, including by Vice President Harris herself, and, consequently, jeopardizing reproductive rights in the U.S. But pro-Palestine and reproductive justice organizers at the DNC tell Jezebel their work is inseparable: They’re fighting for the same things.

On Sunday afternoon, ahead of the DNC, a crowd of roughly 1,000 protesters attended the Bodies Outside of Unjust Laws rally in Chicago, specifically to advocate for reproductive justice and—at a minimum—an immediate ceasefire and arms embargo. Jex Blackmore, an organizer at Shout Your Abortion, which co-led the rally, told Jezebel it wasn’t about “endorsing or opposing any party, but showing that real power is in the people, not Congress.” In addition to Blackmore, who used their remarks to both stress the dire need for a ceasefire and inform attendees how to obtain abortion pills no matter where they live, the rally featured speakers from National Nurses United, rabbis, and organizers for queer and trans liberation.

Since October, Gaza’s Health Ministry reports that Israeli forces have killed more than 40,000 Palestinian people, though the death toll is likely to be much higher. In January, the United Nations estimated that two mothers in Gaza were killed every hour by Israeli attacks and that, at that point, 70% of the dead were women and children.

The Bodies Outside of Unjust Laws rally was unique as it specifically focused on the intersections of Palestine and reproductive justice. “Too often, we see politicians use abortion as a bargaining chip for electoral politics, or concessions and exceptions constantly being made to justify a political platform to get someone elected,” Blackmore said. Blackmore stressed that even before Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, Democrats made concessions on gestational limits on abortion bans, restrictions on minors’ access to care, and more. 

Reproductive justice in the U.S. and justice in Palestine, Blackmore stressed, are “both about bodily autonomy, resisting oppressive systems, fighting for liberation beyond borders and nationalities.” They continued, “You can’t support the principles of reproductive justice while funding war and violence in Gaza, tearing apart or entirely wiping out families in Gaza. It’s absurd to think these things can be separated.” On a website for the march, Bodies Outside of Unjust Laws says they “demand federal action to expand access to abortion and reproductive health care, support families, and defend the rights of trans and queer people,” as well as “an end to reproductive genocide, an end to U.S. arms exports to Israel, and an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Palestine so all Palestinians can live in freedom and dignity with bodily autonomy and reproductive justice.”

In January, Jezebel reported that doctors in Gaza said the miscarriage rate had increased by 300% since Israel’s bombardment began in October. Maternal and infant mortality rates also surged, largely because of the lack of access to basic life-saving medical supplies, and newborns and postpartum women’s particular vulnerability to rampant infections and diseases. Pregnant people have been without access to safe places to give birth amid constant bombardment and the decimation of the health system, while starvation and lack of clean water have left mothers unable to nurse their newborns.

Natalia Latif, an organizer and spokesperson for the Uncommitted movement, told Jezebel the genocide in Gaza is “a feminist issue, a racial justice issue, a fundamental human rights issue,” and certainly a “crisis of reproductive injustice,” explaining, “Every day we’ve seem brutal images of genocide live-streamed for the last 10 months, women giving birth or having c-sections without anesthetic, hospitals not functioning and being bombed, no prenatal care, widespread miscarriages.” The Uncommitted Movement, which includes 30 official Democratic Party delegates, has pledged to withhold support for the Democratic ticket until demands for a ceasefire and arms embargo are met.  

Democrats’ aggressive campaigning on restoring Roe v. Wade and being seen as saviors to Republicans’ abortion bans is “absolutely” at odds with continuing to fund and support the genocide in Gaza, Latif said. “Supporting reproductive rights here and genocide abroad” are incompatible positions, she argued. The Uncommitted movement isn’t even pushing the Democratic Party left or making a fringe demand—they’re “trying to bring Democrats back to our stated values.”

Instead of accusing Uncommitted voters or pro-Palestine organizers of jeopardizing reproductive rights, critics should interrogate how “the exact same people, the same right-wing, pro-Trump billionaires posing a threat to our basic human rights in the U.S. are supporting the indiscriminate bombing of men, women, and children in Gaza.” Latif pointed to the ousting of Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.) in their Democratic primaries after AIPAC, a Zionist lobbyist group, poured over $20 million into their combined races. 

The Bodies Outside of Unjust Laws rally in Chicago comes as national reproductive rights organizations like the political arm of Planned Parenthood and Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL) have strongly rallied around the Democratic ticket. But employees at Planned Parenthood have criticized the organization’s relative silence on reproductive atrocities in Gaza and unconditional support for the Biden-Harris administration—close to 500 Planned Parenthood employees signed a letter opposing their employer’s response in December. “As workers in the fight for reproductive health and justice in the United States, we cannot stay silent as we bear witness to a longstanding genocide funded by our tax dollars,” the letter said, adding, “Israeli airstrikes have struck schools, hospitals, and health centers—including the Palestinian Family Planning and Protection Association’s [PFPPA] only reproductive health facility in Gaza.” 

Abortion funds and grassroots reproductive justice organizations, meanwhile, have vocally condemned Israel’s genocide in Gaza and connected it to the global struggle for reproductive justice. In October, the women of color-led reproductive justice organization ARC-Southeast shared a letter of solidarity with Palestinians, characterizing the Israeli occupation as settler colonialism, and denouncing how Israel’s policies (including 2013 reports that Israel imposed forced sterilizations targeting Ethiopian Jews) have denied Palestinians bodily autonomy. The letter drew dozens of signatories including Indigenous Women Rising, the National Network of Abortion Funds, and the Feminist Women’s Health Center. It states:

At its core, Zionism denies Palestinians the right to exist, thrive, and have autonomy over their bodies, something that impacts Palestinians of all genders and ages. This racist ideology is incompatible with reproductive justice because we know firmly that settler colonialism denies the core tenants of RJ. Zionism is a contradiction to Reproductive Justice.

“Ultimately, we really can’t take anyone seriously in a conversation about bodily autonomy if they’re also pro-war,” Blackmore said. They drew a comparison between the importance of educating people about self-managed abortion with medication and taking their reproductive destinies in their own hands, to recognizing that we can’t rely on the Democratic Party to save us. “Their decades of empty promises show us we can’t rely on any political party to secure our rights. Our liberation is something we own that’s in our hands—we’re going to continue to have abortions, and fight for Palestine, regardless of the law and regardless of who’s in office.”

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