INTRODUCTION

At a time when feminist liberation centered on the cisheteronormative experiences of white women’s right to choose, reproductive justice was a movement created by Black women as a call for intersectional access to reproductive liberation and social justice for all marginalized people. In 1989, 30 Black women came together to write We Remember: African American Women for Reproductive Freedom, a pamphlet outlining their demands and ultimately leading the movement for reproductive freedom.

Yet, when the topic of reproductive justice and bodily autonomy is raised, the experiences of young children, especially young Black children, are often erased from the conversation. Black children are a marginalized class whose issues are often excluded in the fight towards reproductive justice.

The narrative that children are too young to learn about sex, sexuality, and their bodies, and the resulting lack of autonomy children have over their bodies, often leaves them vulnerable to abuse by those around them. **It is time that reproductive justice radically centers reproductive liberation for children and youth, especially Black girls and Black LGBTQ+ children and youth**, who experience disproportionately high rates of Child Sexual Abuse and lack of access to reproductive health resources and sexual education.

The tenants of reproductive justice include the right to have a child, the right to not have a child, and the right to parent/raise a family in safe, healthy, sustainable communities/environments.

We believe the right to determine one’s gender and sexuality and the children’s right to liberation/sovereignty must be included as well.

We are currently living in an extremist political climate that has launched an attack on children. They want to control the books we read, our healthcare access, our understanding of our bodies, and more. Anti-trans, anti-queer, and anti-reproductive justice bills pop up every single day. “Protection” is used as a cover to push a right-wing agenda, all while ignoring what actually harms us — mass shootings, poverty, child sexual abuse, environmental degradation, ableism, misogynoir, and more.

We may not have the language adults have. We may not know all the stats. But we know the world we want to grow up in. We don’t want your bans, your false protections, your wealth hoarding, your violence, or your control. We want a world free of gender and sexual violence, a world where we can afford to live well, a world where adults can’t hurt us — we want full reproductive freedom.