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Paul Rego: Abortion Series, 1998
“IT HIGHLIGHTS THE FEAR AND PAIN AND DANGER OF AN ILLEGAL ABORTION, WHICH IS WHAT DESPERATE WOMEN HAVE ALWAYS RESORTED TO. IT’S VERY WRONG TO CRIMINALIZE WOMEN ON TOP OF EVERYTHING ELSE. MAKING ABORTIONS ILLEGAL IS FORCING WOMEN TO THE BACKSTREET SOLUTION.” – PAULA REGO
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Framing Reproductive (In)Justice: A Picture Perfect Gruesome N****** Hurtstory
"Loretta Ross says reproductive justice isn’t just the right to have or not to have a child
It’s the right to raise a child in a safe environment
Your mother didn’t have (reproductive) justice
No N****** in this country ever did
Because you/we/she are/is not safe, they took you from her
Because you/we/she are/is not safe, I lost you to them
They mark you as unsafe, so they can continue to hold you
Which they pretend is for your own good, which is for their own profits
The more unsafe you are
The more of their drugs they can test on you, the more money they pay themselves for keeping you
Your safety is not profitable and your freedom is not tenable
It is easy to get lost in this picture, perfectly framed, yet missing the essentials
It is difficult to get lost, searching for your safety
Sometimes mothers have to miss(place) daughters
As we pray that our daughters find freedom, in flight"
(Poem excerpt by K Melchor Quick , 2020)
