Newsletter: March 2007
Kathleen Ragsdale and Janelle S. Taylor, Contributing Editors
Council on Anthropology and Reproduction (CAR) Advocacy Initiative
By Lynn M. Morgan
In 2006, the Council on Anthropology and Reproduction (CAR) launched a new initiative to ensure that feminist anthropologists have a voice in public conversations about reproductive and sexual rights and health. The goal of the CAR Advocacy Committee (the Committee) is to position anthropologists as reproductive health advocates worldwide. The Committee organized its first workshop for the 2006 AAA meetings in collaboration with partners from Ipas (an international organization dedicated to women's sexual and reproductive rights) and Ibis Reproductive Health. “From Research to Policy in the Anthropology of Reproduction” brought two academic-advocate teams together to discuss collaborations and translating academic research into action. Tina Stevens and Diane Beeson spoke about their “Hands Off Our Ovaries” collaboration, which opposes stem cell research until more is known about the health effects of egg extraction. Tracy Weitz and Eleanor Drey from UCSF spoke about ensuring evidence-based abortion care and policy.
Next, the Committee partnered with feminist sociologists led by Christine Morton and Danielle Bessett in a workshop at the National Advocates for Pregnant Women Summit conference in Atlanta, January 2007. The workshop was called “Connecting the dots: Linking.edu with org, or, From Reproductive Research to Policy and Grassroots Advocacy.” Marlene Fried, the keynote speaker, spoke about her work as an activist working in an academic setting. Participants came from a range of backgrounds and institutions and included many representatives from community based organizations around the country.
A third activity involved the Committee in issuing a statement opposing the Global Gag Rule. First implemented by the Reagan administration in 1984, rescinded by President Clinton, and reinstated by the Bush administration in 2001, the Global Gag Rule prohibits foreign organizations that receive U.S. funds from providing abortion or referring clients to abortion services, even if they do not use U.S. funds to do so. Although unconstitutional in the U.S. because it requires an organization to “surrender its right to use its own funds to exercise free speech and participate in the political process” (Population Action International), the Global Gag Rule forbids international organizations that receive U.S. funds from working to legalize abortion in their own countries. Anthropologists have ample opportunity to observe and document the cruel and devastating effects of the Global Gag Rule in poor countries and communities as it has hurt women and families by closing clinics. Ironically, Global Gag Rule increases abortion and HIV rates by restricting access to much-needed contraceptives, including condoms.
Because anthropologists listen carefully, observe closely, attend to local context, and acquire unique insights into how people understand and practice reproduction, we can lead policy changes. The Committee encourages anthropologists of reproduction to distill academic articles into fact sheets and press releases, to publish their findings as newspaper op-ed pieces, to contribute to blogs, and to talk to the press and policymakers, who may find our research outcomes counterintuitive. For example, anthropologists of reproduction have recently learned:
- That birthing women in southern India sometimes reject anesthesia while requesting injections to increase – rather than decrease – the pain of labor (Cecilia Van Hollen)
- That vulnerable pregnant women in Mozambique often perceive prenatal medical care as a potential threat to their health (Rachel Chapman)
- That indigenous Guatemalan women who understand the risks associated with childbirth nonetheless opt to give birth at home with traditional midwives (Nicole S. Berry)
Such research reinforces our conviction that sound policy and effective advocacy must begin with a commitment to understand people’s own perspectives on their lives, needs, and values. These findings demonstrate that reproduction interventions affect far more than the physical body, as reproduction is central to how people imagine and re-create their social and moral worlds. Insights emerging from feminist anthropologists’ research can be used to design effective and appropriate medical care, inform social policy, and enhance effective advocacy efforts.
CAR members study all facets of reproduction the world over. Our collective expertise covers issues such as mothering, childbearing, infertility, midwifery, contraception, abortion, adoption, new reproductive technologies, and the local effects of global policies. Some of us conduct research in humble homes and impoverished rural clinics, while others work in high-tech laboratories and wealthy medical institutions. With the advocacy initiative, CAR members offer our skills, services, and research results to the advocates with whom we share common cause.
Please send column contributions to Contributing Editor Kathleen Ragsdale (ragsdale@ndri.org)