Reproductive Justice: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Spoiler Warning!
There are many reasons to love Crazy Ex-Girlfriend —the catchy songs, honest depictions of mental illness, queer characters, and lots of women on the production staff. The show was created by Rachel Bloom and Aline Brosh McKenna and stars Bloom as a lawyer who moves from New York to California to follow her teenage sweetheart and start a new life. That’s the quick synopsis, anyway. Among all of the wonderful aspects of the show is its portrayal of reproductive justice.
What is reproductive justice? It’s all people having the social, political, and economic power and resources to make healthy decisions about their gender, bodies, sexuality, and families for themselves and their communities.
How does it differ from reproductive rights? The Reproductive Rights Movement has traditionally centered around the legal right to access reproductive health care services like abortion and birth control. The term “reproductive justice” was coined by Black feminists in 1994 and links reproductive rights with broader social justice issues like racial inequality, income inequality, and immigration status. Further, reproductive justice focuses on dismantling health and social inequalities throughout the life cycle. In this article we’ll be quickly covering just two of them: abortion, and LGBTQIA+ parenting.
Abortion
In season two, Rebecca’s best friend Paula unexpectedly becomes pregnant. Paula is married, has two children, and is contemplating going back to law school. When Paula finds out she is pregnant, she worries about how her family will be able to afford another child and whether or not she is able to continue law school. Paula’s husband asks her if she wants to explore other options (like abortion). Paula responds that those options are for “teenagers the month after winter formal” — not married, adult women. This stigma is common but it isn’t true. Studies show that in the U.S. 59% of abortions are obtained by people who already have children. Paula’s worries about being able to afford to raise another child are also common — in the U.S. 49% of abortion patients are below the federal poverty line.
Paula decides that having an abortion is best for her and her family. As a white, middle class woman in California Paula was able to obtain an abortion more easily than many people in the United States. Unlike many states, California doesn’t have any major types of abortion restrictions — such as waiting periods, mandated parental involvement, or limitations on publicly funded abortions. Paula was able to pay for the procedure, take time off work, and talk with her family about it. Many people aren’t so fortunate.
There are many federal and state laws that restrict access to abortion — including laws that ban state and private funding for abortions and TRAP (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers) laws that are designed to shut down healthcare facilities that provide abortion services. There is also biased counseling and mandatory delays, fake health centers that intentionally lie to and manipulate patients looking for information about abortion services, and anti-abortion protests and violence that target patients and providers. These restrictions largely affect poor and low income individuals.
Likewise, the stigma surrounding abortion is a major issue. Even though Paula was sure of her decision, the stigma surrounding abortion stopped her talking about her experience with her closest friends. Many people find it hard to talk freely about their experiences with abortion. This can cause rifts in relationships, like Paula and Rebecca’s, as well as difficulties at work. While Paula wasn’t required to provide a doctor’s note in order to get the day off work, this isn’t true for everyone.
LGBTQ Parenting
In season one, Rebecca’s boss Darryl is going through a divorce and custody battle with his ex-wife. Darryl also comes out as bisexual. Thankfully Darryl’s sexuality doesn’t hinder his custody case, but this isn’t always the case. While at least 21 states have granted second-parent adoptions to LGBTQ individuals and couples, some states like Florida and New Hampshire have used a parent’s sexual orientation to deny custody, adoption, visitation, and foster care. It wasn’t until this year that a federal court ruled that government-contracted child welfare agencies do not have a right to exclude same-sex couples or others who don’t meet an agency’s religious test from fostering children.
Darryl also eventually decides he wants to have another child via surrogacy and artificial insemination. Luckily, Darryl is a fairly successful lawyer with friends who help him through the process. However, many LGBTQ parents and potential parents face barriers when it comes to surrogacy. For example, Louisiana restricts surrogacy to heterosexual married couples using their own gametes and Arizona only allows the biological father (in same sex, male surrogacy cases) to be named on the initial birth certificate while the non-biological father can only be added to the birth certificate after a second-parent adoption outside of Arizona.
Surrogacy laws vary widely by state and too often negatively impact LGBTQ families and individuals. Even in states with legal protections for LGBTQ parents, some LGBT couples and individuals may face discrimination or bias from some surrogacy professionals, prospective surrogates, or donors throughout the process. Barriers to LGBTQ surrogacy, adoption, and parenting are all founded in myths and stereotypes. According to the ACLU, “All of the research to date has reached the same unequivocal conclusion about gay parenting: the children of lesbian and gay parents grow up as successfully as the children of heterosexual parents.”
Talk It Out
- What do you know about abortion? Where have you learned this information?
- What were you taught in school about pregnancy? What about abortion? What biases may have influenced your education?
- Does your state have restrictions on LGBTQ adoption, parenting, or surrogacy? Is there any legislation currently in progress?
Take Action
- If your state or country has harmful restrictions on abortion, write to your local representatives in support of pro-choice legislation.
- Volunteer at Planned Parenthood or support them on social media.
- Learn more about restrictions on LGBTQ parenting in your area. If there are restrictions, research ways that you can help combat them.
Resources & References
What is Reproductive Justice? via Forward Together
Reproductive Justice, Not Just Rights via Dissent Magazine
U.S. Abortion Patients via Guttmacher Institute
Abortion Access via NARAL
OVERVIEW OF LESBIAN AND GAY PARENTING, ADOPTION, AND FOSTER CARE via ACLU
ABOUT SURROGACY — GAY SURROGACY — SURROGACY FOR LGBT COUPLES via Surrogate.com
Jobs and Volunteering via Planned Parenthood
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