What is reproductive justice and why is there a session at Facing Race on it? According to EMERJ, "Reproductive Justice exists when all people have the economic, social and political power and resources to make healthy decisions about our gender, bodies, and sexuality for ourselves, our families and our communities."
This panel includes some seriously bad-ass women, Rocio Cordoba and Gabriela Valle from California Latina for Reproductive Justice and Marie Nakae from Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice. are talking about the difference between a movement that is focused on choice verses one that has a justice agenda. A justice agenda takes into account the greater conditions that serve as barriers to women's control of their own bodies, sexuality and health.
Maria Nakae is talking about nail salon workers and the chemicals they are exposed to. Apparently, 11% of chemicals in beauty products are actually tested so it is a great risk to these women that are exposed to them at high rates. Furthermore, exposure to these chemicals has reproductive health hazards. To learn more about their organizing work with nail salon workers check the project POLISH.
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Safety testing of those chemicals would have to be done on some sort of animal. There just isn't any other way. So we have to pick one: the rabbit or the human. I know which side PETA's on.