In the context of the current crisis of democracy, particularly in light of Roe vs Wade, this session interrogates how racism, gender, health and democracy intersect with religion and faith to directly impact women's reproductive rights and decision making. We bring together three scholars who critically engage with the ways in which these issues juxtapose to limit women's bodily autonomy and rights. They bring together the complex realities of women's experiences in the US where white heteropatriarchal agendas set by political and religious leaders are upheld by larger society and are disproportionally impacting women and their health, alongside other aspects of intersectionality. Presenters draw on three distinct contexts to highlight the complexities women now face: black maternal health, women's voluntary celibacy, and Christian exceptionalism upheld by conservative women.
The black maternal health crisis is intersectional conversation because when problemized it converges into an issue of racism, religion, health, and democracy. Having children in the state of Georgia is dangerous and health risk for black women because we are three time more likely to die in childbirth or within a year of postpartdum. I argue it is not just an issue of race but an issue of the “racism” women encounter by this system. Second, black women are reported by Pew research as the most religious subgroup to self-identify as religious and attend a weekly service. The teachings of these faith communities are influences how black women are making decisions regarding their reproductive health before they are in labor. Often creating moral dilemmas for these women within the larger moral conversation. Finally, this crisis involves democracy and equality.
Conservative Christian women in the US operate under a logic of exceptionalism by which they are able to elide the circumstances of others while understanding their own abortion care as morally exempt. This exceptionalism helps us to understand how the prevailing logic of conservative Christian stances on abortion are able to both maintain cultural power and withstand contrast in the daily practice of believers on the ground. Conservative Christian women’s exceptionalism results in “mothering decisions” for me but not for thee.
Increasingly, heterosexual women are choosing periods of celibacy (defined as the conscious choice of not having sexual relations or encounters with men) or celibate lives. With the fall of Roe v. Wade, celibacy takes on another level of significance. At a practical level, for women in the 24 states that has banned abortions, celibacy offers a level of safety as women fight to restore abortion rights. Meanwhile, the choice of celibacy is also a powerful statement of autonomy and agency in relation to women and our bodies. Further, facing this battle launched by the religious right, let us couple celibacy with self-pleasuring as the ultimate challenge to their age-old efforts on controlling female sexuality and reproduction.