The Time is Now: Embracing HIV/AIDS Awareness in the Reproductive Justice Movement

For World AIDS Day, Mariah, a member of the Young Women of Color Leadership Program, explains why reproductive justice must include HIV and AIDS awareness.

According to SisterSong, Reproductive Justice is the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities. They believe that it is about access, not just choice. Access, something that we reproductive justice activists care for so dearly, is the ability to obtain, examine, or retrieve. Reproductive justice activists often advocate for a variety of important systematic reforms that range from access to trauma informed care to cooperative comprehensive sex education. While the movements stated previously are crucial and valid, it leads me to question…is it time for the reproductive justice movement to expand itself?

The reproductive justice movement has always been a strong symbol of social change, but it does not mean we need not grow. It is important that we include HIV/AIDS destigmatization in reproductive justice conversations. We know that sexual and reproductive health outcomes are largely impacted by socioeconomic status and access. And we know that more often than not, it is young women and people of color who are impacted by this. As a black woman living in Virginia Beach, it is important that access to all forms of reproductive and sexual health care are available to me.

In Hampton Roads, there were 277 new cases of HIV documented in 2016. When we held free testing on my campus for National Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, many of us were shocked at how much we did not know about the spread of HIV. All 277 of those cases could have been prevented if our population had better access to comprehensive sex education and PrEP. Our education system, specifically in family life programs, condemns those with HIV/AIDS. This condemning further perpetuates the stigma and ostracization that often follows those that are impacted more directly by HIV/AIDS. This makes it less likely that people will get tested, reveal their status or even seek treatment.

In the reproductive justice movement, we recognize that lack of awareness of reproductive and sexual health rights and lack of access to quality preventative health care is dangerous. It is important that we, as a movement understand that we must be fluid in what we advocate for. Reproductive justice provides us with the tools to allow people from all walks of life to access the care they need. HIV/AIDS awareness is a fundamental part of the fight for sexual health and rights. We are working to make the fight for informed and cooperative healthcare into an artform, we are working to make reproductive justice more accessible to all people; HIV/AIDS awareness should not be left out.

As we get closer to World Aids Day, it is important to consider how our work includes and focuses in on those who are living with HIV and AIDS. How are we supporting them? How are we crafting narratives around their life and survival? This, too, is reproductive justice.