One mental health professional's search for reproductive and bodily autonomy

Morison (2021) states that the reproductive justice framework provides psychologists with an “effective lens” to view the “gendered power dynamics and sociopolitical complexities shaping people's reproductive lives and experiences.” Psychologists can aid communities in accessing information and services, education, providing information on sexual exploitation and violence, and they can contribute to the research on both social and economic deprivation (Morison, 2021, p. 4) As mental health professionals who are obligated to comply with certain ethical guidelines set out by the American Psychological Association (APA), we are advocates, allies, and activists for social change (Melton, 2018).    References Melton, M. L. (2018). Ally, activist, advocate: Addressing role complexities for the multiculturally competent psychologist. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 49(1), 83–89. https://doi.org/10.1037/pro0000175  Morison, T. (2021). Reproductive justice: A radical framewo

Psychology plays a pivotal role in our responsibility to women to be their allies, advocates, and an activist for their rights. The field of psychology is obligated to society to become involved in “public policy to inform social practices” and use this scientific and professionally acquired knowledge to advocate for better human conditions (Melton, 2018). Melton (2018) also suggests that psychologists are ethically bound by the APA’s ethical guidelines to “protect civil and human rights” and offer aid to society in “developing informed judgments and choices concerning human behavior.” One solution that Psychologists have to address the growing problem of inequality for bodily autonomy is the adoption and promotion of the “Reproductive and Sexual Health Equity” framework, which seeks to meet “people's reproductive and sexual health needs, with explicit attention to structural influences on health and health care and grounded in a desire to achieve the highest level of health for al

Psychology’s Historical Role Historically, the role psychology has played in the battle for bodily and reproductive inequality hasn’t been the most uplifting journey, particularly for nonbinary individuals. According to Turban (2020), early research focused on answering questions such as “what determines someone’s gender identity,” a question that is subjective and assumes that one can or needs to be fixed. In 1993, psychologists were pathologizing transgendered individuals, diagnosing them with “gender identity disorder.” More recently, studies have asked if parents and caregivers could be blamed for their children’s struggle with gender identity. These snafus resulted in a handful of conversion-type “therapies” attempting to make the transgendered cisgender. Discrimination Following a similar theme that I have written about over the past six weeks, the issue of bodily and reproductive autonomy is something that I have grown rather passionate about. Expanding my knowledge on the subje

Women of color are among the disadvantaged populations that are at a disproportionately higher risk of pregnancy-related deaths before the overturned decision, now it is estimated that these rates will rise to over 20% (Gostin, 2022). Despite this decision affecting all women, women of color have added barriers affecting their reproductive health, such as “immigration status, ability, gender identity, carceral status, sexual orientation, and age” and unequal access to reproductive health care (Ross, 2017).  Other concerns that affect women of color include “systematic sterilization of women of color and immigrants, punitive welfare policies, environmental racism, race-based immigration policies, homophobia, and mass incarceration -- all of which have affected marginalized communities' abilities to make decisions about their reproduction, sexuality, and overall well-being” (“Women of Color Want Reproductive Justice, Not Just Abortion Rights. - Document - Gale in Context: Opposing Vi

While women across the country woke up on June 25th, 2022, with fewer rights to their bodies than the day previously, women from underserved populations will have additional barriers that they will face. The Hyde amendment of 1976 and the limited coverage under Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) of 1996 make it so that women from lower socioeconomic status (SES) are unable to get abortions while subsequently being limited in what child’s needs can be provided with assistance (Hyatt et al., 2022). This leaves women from low SESs with limited resources to provide for a child they are all but forced to give birth to.  The psychological effects of being forced to birth a child they aren’t ready for, no matter the circumstances surrounding conception, vary. An extreme, though real, example of this is in a July 2, 2022, news report out of Ohio of a 10-year-old little girl who was six weeks and three days pregnant after being raped by a family member and denied an abortion due to t

How do we conceptualize the question of what, if any, are the psychological and physical implications of recent court decisions on women’s reproductive rights and their right to bodily autonomy through a theoretical lens? The injustices women face regarding their bodily autonomy can be best explained from the Reproductive Justice lens. According to the founders of the Reproductive Justice framework, “the definition of reproductive justice goes beyond the pro-choice/pro-life debate and has three primary principles: (1) the right not to have a child; (2) the right to have a child; and (3) the right to parent children in safe and healthy environments. In addition, reproductive justice demands sexual autonomy and gender freedom for every human being” (Ross & Solinger, 2017, p. 9). This framework inherently impedes the status quo and seeks to imagine “better futures through radical forms of resistance and critique” (Ross, 2017, p. 292).      Morison (2021) states that the reproductive j