For a period after the Civil War, contraception and abortion were legal. How do the authors explain the rationale behind making both illegal? Specifically, were there different concerns related to reproduction for women in general, white women, Native women, African American women, Chinese women?

Questions from the Introduction

1. How does Loretta Ross describe herself? With which activist organization has she worked and assumed positions of leadership?

2. How does Rickie Solinger define herself? Identify two questions she has worked to answer.

3. Summarize the authors’ positions on the need to be inclusive in the use of language.Questions from Chapter 1.
4. Identify the 3 primary principles of “reproductive justice.”

5. What 5 community resources must be available for persons who reproduce to be able to do so in a dignified, humane manner?

6. Prior to the Civil War, how were women of color—African American and Native—treated by the government in terms of their ability to manage pregnancy and raise their children?

7. For a period after the Civil War, contraception and abortion were legal. How do the authors explain the rationale behind making both illegal? Specifically, were there different concerns related to reproduction for women in general, white women, Native women, African American women, Chinese women?

8. In 1935 the U.S. enacted Aid to Dependent Children, to help provide for children in poor families. Which children were not considered by the legislation?

9. Provide two examples of how sterilization has been used in the 20thcentury to control the reproduction choices of poor women, especially those of color

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