In her first major speech since becoming the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton dove head-first into issues of reproductive justice — the idea, pioneered by women of color, that a woman’s ability to access safe and legal abortion is directly connected to her ability to thrive economically, socially, and mentally.
Speaking to a crowd of about 800 Planned Parenthood supporters in Washington, D.C., Clinton applauded reproductive justice advocates, who have expanded the pro-choice movement into a larger, more inclusive push for social justice.
“I’m grateful to the reproductive justice leaders in this room and across America,” Clinton said. “Because you know that all those [social justice] issues go straight to that fundamental question: whether we believe women and families of all races and backgrounds and income levels deserve an equal shot in life.”
"Repro rights, economic justice, racial justice, gun violence – these are intersecting issues." Preach @HillaryClinton. #ImWithHer
— Cecile Richards (@CecileRichards) June 10, 2016
Clinton’s speech was the first time a major party’s presidential nominee has devoted a speech to reproductive justice.
Reproductive justice advocates argue that women can’t make individual choices about their bodies if they are being oppressed in other ways. Systemic racism, for example, may contribute to keeping black women too impoverished to afford reproductive health care. And strict immigration laws, advocates argue, prevent undocumented women from accessing contraceptives and safe abortion.
At the same time, reproductive justice advocates argue, women can’t thrive economically without access to family planning — thus creating a full circle connecting social justice issues to reproductive health access. Clinton touched on that in her speech, arguing that women in the United States thrived after the Supreme Court legalized birth control in 1965:
“It turns out, being able to plan their families not only saved women’s lives, it also transformed them — because it meant that women were able to get educations, build careers, enter new fields, and rise as far as their talent and hard work would take them — all the opportunities that follow when women are able to stay healthy and choose whether and when to become mothers.
“And you know so well, today, the percentage of women who finish college is six times what it was before birth control was legal. Women represent half of all college graduates in America and nearly half our labor force.
“And our whole economy, then, is better off. The movement of women into the workforce, the paid workforce, over the past 40 years was responsible for more than three and a half trillion dollars in growth in our economy.”
Clinton also touched on gun control, arguing that it was crucial to making sure women felt safe accessing safe and legal abortion. She cited the tragic shooting that killed three people inside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado last year, and argued that the mentally ill shooter “never should have had a gun.”
Raising the minimum wage, tackling comprehensive immigration reform, and “breaking down all the barriers of discrimination and system racism” were also parts of Clinton’s speech before the Planned Parenthood crowd. She also reiterated her support for repealing the Hyde Amendment, which states that abortions for low-income women cannot be funded by federal Medicaid dollars.
“All the issues we’re talking about today are connected,” Clinton said. “They intersect.”
On the campaign trail, Clinton has been increasingly been citing intersectionality — “the concept that different forms of inequality and discrimination overlap and compound one another.” Proliferation of the concept is particularly important to women of color, who are more likely to experience discrimination and barriers that white women do not.
On Twitter, more than a few prominent commentators on race and social justice applauded Clinton’s embrace of intersectionality and reproductive justice.
Hillary has definitely been listening to Black women working on her campaign. She explicitly referenced repro justice leaders. Important.
— Imani Gandy (@AngryBlackLady) June 10, 2016
I can’t remember a speech from a presidential nominee that has been this progressive, or intersectional, about reproductive rights.
— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) June 10, 2016
Clinton’s speech, however, was not all about advocating policies that she believes would advance women’s well-being. She also devoted a significant portion to attacking Donald Trump, the presumed Republican presidential nominee.
Trump, she said, would be disastrous for women’s health, and the wide-ranging number of policies that affect it.
“[Social justice] issues go straight to that fundamental question: whether we believe women and families of all races and backgrounds and income levels deserve an equal shot in life,” she said. “That’s what I believe … Donald Trump believes something very different.”
Clinton condemned Trump’s controversial remarks in May, in which he said not only said abortion should be outlawed, but that women should “probably” be punished for receiving abortions. Trump eventually walked those comments back, but Clinton said it wasn’t enough.
“Anyone who would so casually agree to the idea of punishing women — like it was nothing to him, the most obvious thing in the world — that is someone who doesn’t hold women in high regard,” she said. “Because if he did, he’d trust women to make the right decisions for ourselves.”