Loretta Ross
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Articles by Loretta Ross
Luminaries of Health Equity: A Conversation with Byllye Avery, Dorothy Roberts, and Loretta Ross
A public conversation to examine the past, present, and future of health equity in the United States. MacArthur Fellows Byllye Avery (1989), Dorothy Roberts (2024), and Loretta Ross (2022) reflect on the structural roots of health inequities, the role of community leadership in driving innovation, lessons learned from decades of advancing Black women’s health, and what it will take to build sustainable solutions for the future. May 9, 2026 1:00 p.m. ET Provincetown Inn Provincetown, MA Learn more
自分と意見の合わない人々との対話の始め方
わたしは何十年もの間、敵対する人々とも関係性を築いてきた。そして、自分と意見の合わない人々を「糾弾」するのではなく、「対話に招く」ほうがはるかに効果的だと気づいた。わたしはレイプサバイバーだが、性的暴行で収監された男性たちがレイプ・カルチャーから脱却する手助けをした。また、わたしは黒人女性だが、白人至上主義だった男性と数カ月にわたって各地を回り、彼のような人々が人種差別を克服する支援をしてきた。 米国の選挙を見てもわかるように、家族や友人、近隣住民のなかには、自分とは異なる考え方をしている人たちがたくさんいる。その事実に驚き、ショックを受けた人もいるだろう。しかし、わたしたちは互いを理解し、優しさとリスペクトを基にした連帯を築き、重要な課題解決のための前進を続けなければならない。「対話に招く」とは、人々を争いではなく、話し合いに招き入れることだ。以下、対話を始めるための5つのステップを紹介しよう。 自分の痛みを共感に変える...
CALLING IN by Loretta J Ross Read by Loretta J Ross | Audiobook Review | AudioFile Magazine
by | Read by Loretta J. Ross Loretta J. Ross delivers her audiobook in an authentic-sounding voice. A longtime activist, Ross provides a detailed discussion on the practice of "calling in" people who need education and support on difficult issues. This is different from "calling out" someone, either in person or on social media, an approach Ross asserts may feel good in the moment but has limited positive impact.
How do we free abortion?
In a narrow street deep in Barcelona’s Raval district is a building with an inconspicuous oval hole in its facade. Above the wooden door is the faint lettering ‘Casa d’Infants Orfes’ (House of Orphaned Infants). From the Middle Ages up to the 19th century, women would place their newborn babies in the wooden hatch and rotate it, allowing the anonymous and safe delivery of the child to the orphanage.
How do we free abortion?
In a narrow street deep in Barcelona’s Raval district is a building with an inconspicuous oval hole in its facade. Above the wooden door is the faint lettering ‘Casa d’Infants Orfes’ (House of Orphaned Infants). From the Middle Ages up to the 19th century, women would place their newborn babies in the wooden hatch and rotate it, allowing the anonymous and safe delivery of the child to the orphanage.
Highlights & Reflections on AMSA Annual Meeting Future Physicians for Change 2024: A “Mountaintop Experience”
SPOTLIGHT ON ABORTION CARE & REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE Highlights & Reflections on AMSA Annual Meeting Future Physicians for Change 2024: A “Mountaintop Experience” Written by Jeff Koetje, MD, AMSA Reproductive Health Programming Strategist & Aliye Runyan, MD, AMSA Reproductive Health Strategist There is nothing like an AMSA annual meeting! A protected time and space for hundreds of future physicians to come together for shared experiences, illuminating discussions, and transformative moments of...
Don’t Let The Chain Of Freedom Break At Your Link
The last 45 years have seen the consolidation of the far Right. While “many white liberals have been so eager to put the ideology of white supremacy behind them that they declare it prematurely dead over and over again.” Smith College Professor Loretta Ross and 22nd Century Initiative Director Scot Nakagawa have both engaged for decades in the fight against the far Right.
‘Don’t Let the Chain of Freedom Break at Your Link’
Smith College Professor Loretta Ross and 22nd Century Initiative Director Scot Nakagawa have both engaged for decades in the fight against the far Right. In this conversation they look at the lessons that Ross’ work with the National Anti-Klan Network hold for the present; how the landscape of the Right has changed; and how we should orient ourselves to the present. Convergence Editorial Board member Marcy Rein edited the transcript of their hour-plus dialogue.
Don’t Let the Chain of Freedom Break at Your Link
Smith College Professor Loretta Ross and 22nd Century Initiative Director Scot Nakagawa have both engaged for decades in the fight against the far Right. In this conversation they look at the lessons that Ross’ work with the National Anti-Klan Network hold for the present; how the landscape of the Right has changed; and how we should orient ourselves to the present. Convergence Editorial Board member Marcy Rein edited the transcript of their hour-plus dialogue.
Loretta Ross: ‘Don’t Let the Chain of Freedom Break at Your Link’
We also wrote a number of smaller pamphlets about dealing with homophobia and talking about the intersection of white supremacy and law enforcement. The latter was called “They Don’t All Wear Sheets.” Three years into my term, I became the program/research director after the research director, Leonard Zeskind, received a MacArthur “genius” grant and retired. That meant dealing with a bunch of people who infiltrated hate groups and reported on them.
Loretta Ross: ‘Don’t Let the Chain of Freedom Break at Your Link’
Smith College Professor Loretta Ross and 22nd Century Initiative Director Scot Nakagawa have both engaged for decades in the fight against the far Right. In this conversation they look at the lessons that Ross’ work with the National Anti-Klan Network hold for the present; how the landscape of the Right has changed; and how we should orient ourselves to the present. Convergence Editorial Board member Marcy Rein edited the transcript of their hour-plus dialogue.
Trade Secrets: A Reproductive Justice Approach to Readers' Advisory, by By Barbara Alvarez. | Booklist Online
FEATURE. First published April 15, 2023 (Booklist). Last year I surveyed 179 library professionals across the country about the sexual and reproductive health information that they do or do not provide in their collections. A significant number explained that they have limited resources in their collections and do not have programs or partnerships on these topics because patrons do not ask for them.
What Reclaiming Feminism Means to Me as a Black Feminist Original
I’m a Black feminist. A womanist. A hip-hop feminist. A crunk feminist. An intersectional feminist. A Caribbean feminist. A diasporic feminist. A disabled feminist. A justice feminist. A Feminist. These are all the terms I grappled with as I sought to better understand my own relationship to feminism.
Global Reproductive Justice Is What We Need Right Now
Around the globe, the thread of white supremacy runs through reproductive policies, maternal health programs, marriage and family law. The reproductive justice framework can help people everywhere access the care they need. The reproductive rights movement has made significant progress expanding the rights of people around the world: In the last 30 years, only four countries have tightened abortion laws—Poland, El Salvador, Nicaragua and the United States.
How the book community can fight for reproductive justice
[TW: abortions, reproductive justice, racism/white supremacy] “For much of the nineteenth century, abortion was legal…As abortion was largely performed by midwives and homeopaths, the move to criminalize it coincided with a consolidation of power by doctors and medical professionals,” notes Lauren Rankin in Bodies on the Line (p12).
Climate, Politics and Procreation: Loretta J. Ross
Meehan: You are listening to the LRB podcast. I'm Meehan Crist, and welcome to the first episode in a special short series exploring the intersection of climate chaos and reproductive justice. Over the next four episodes going out every other week, my guests and I will be asking what it means to pursue reproductive justice in a rapidly warming world. What happens when environmental devastation gets linked to the size of human populations?
Books to kickstart your abortion activism
I’m sure people expected a newsletter in the wake of Roe v. Wade being overturned. I try to not waste my readers’ time with content that they can get anywhere else. And since social media is now inundated with post-mortems of the decision, I thought I’d put together something useful like a reading list for young activists to complete in order to hit the ground running when they engage in grassroots organizing.
HaymarketBooks.org
Undivided Rights Women of Color Organizing for Reproductive Justice by Marlene Gerber Fried, Elena Gutiérrez, Loretta Ross, and Jael Silliman Undivided Rights captures the evolving and largely unknown activist history of women of color organizing for reproductive justice. Undivided Rights captures the evolving and largely unknown activist history of women of color organizing for reproductive justiceon their own behalf.
I'm Not a 'Crack Baby'-but I Thought I Was #ABLC
Culture & Conversation Personal Tales May 4, 2021, 10:55am Imani Gandy The more I thought about this offensive origin story I had created for myself, the angrier I got. So I started to do something about it. The most dangerous place for a Black child is in this country that views Black lives as expendable and refuses to examine the racist policies contributing to the reproductive oppression that Black women face.
It's Time to Stop Talking About Whether Margaret Sanger Was Racist #ABLC
In her New York Times op-ed, Planned Parenthood President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson seemed to be wrestling with the complicated facts and nuance of the work and activism by Margaret Sanger, the organization's founder.
10 Resources by BIPOC Folks That Will Make Your Activism More Intersectional
It’s always great to be in conversation with people about racial justice and learn from other people. However, there comes a point where one has to do some reflection and educate themselves on what their own role is in the racial justice movement. Everyone has a role in this movement, but one thing everyone has to do first is educate themselves. While I don’t believe it’s the job of BIPOC folks to solve racism on their own, I still believe BIPOC folks should be leading the way.
The Nazification of the Republican Party
Drawing by Nathaniel St. Clair After World War II, the Nazis who helped Hitler rise to power and murder millions of people, including at least 6 million Jews, were put on trial to send a warning to the world. Not all of them faced a judicial process, but enough were not protected by their high status, official offices, or claims of “innocence” and “patriotism.” Power through violence was the only language they spoke—not justice, not freedom—and they were held accountable.
Eugenicists Never Retreat, They Just Regroup: Sterilization and Reproductive Oppression in Prisons
Commentary Human Rights Jun 12, 2014, 11:26am Loretta Ross After winning a settlement that opened the door for thousands of women to initiate malpractice lawsuits against Dalkon Shield, the IUD that caused my sterilization, I naively thought we had seen the end of sterilization atrocities. Unfortunately, that is not so, at least in California.
The Trojan Horse on Apple Podcasts
51 min What do racism and the anti-choice movement have in common? EVERYTHING. It all started with a Supreme Court decision, and not the one you’re thinking of. In our first episode, we dig down to the real roots of the movement -- another case decided 20 years earlier, Brown v. Board of Education. This is the story of the early leaders of the Radical Right who tapped into segregationist racism to transform Evangelicals into a terrifying political coalition.
The Lie That Binds on Apple Podcasts
2 min Coming Tuesday, August 4th from NARAL Pro-Choice America: The Lie that Binds, a 6-part podcast series that unpacks the terrifying rise of the anti-choice movement from its surprising roots in school segregation to the election of President Donald Trump. This critical series is for anyone wondering how abortion rights seem to be dwindling despite public opinion swaying strongly in favor of reproductive freedom.
11 Books for Asian American Teens to Educate Themselves on Sex and Their Bodies
Culture & Conversation Sexual Health May 29, 2020, 2:02pm Esther Gim Sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice should be at the center of our understandings of our bodies—and discerning how they have been and continue to be oppressed and politicized. This Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (APAHM), Rewire.News is highlighting the ways Asian and Pacific Islander American communities have been at the forefront of the reproductive justice movement throughout its formation and today.
Opinion | I’m a Black Feminist. I Think Call-Out Culture Is Toxic. (Published 2019)
Today’s call-out culture is so seductive, I often have to resist the overwhelming temptation to clap back at people on social media who get on my nerves. Call-outs happen when people publicly shame each other online, at the office, in classrooms or anywhere humans have beef with one another. But I believe there are better ways of doing social justice work. Recently, someone lied about me on social media and I decided not to reply. “Never wrestle with a pig,” as George Bernard Shaw said.
Opinion | I’m a Black Feminist. I Think Call-Out Culture Is Toxic. - …
There are better ways of doing social justice work. By Loretta Ross Ms. Ross, an expert on women’s issues, racism and human rights, is a founder of the reproductive justice theory. Aug 17, 2019 Today’s call-out culture is so seductive, I often have to resist the overwhelming temptation to clap back at people on social media who get on my nerves. Call-outs happen when people publicly shame each other online, at the office, in classrooms or anywhere humans have beef with one another.
How Women of Color Have Broadened and Redefined Reproductive Rights
For decades, Black, Native, Latina and Asian American women have led the fight to control their own bodies, health and reproductive destinies, with or without the help of the mainstream pro-choice movement. The stories of just some of these groundbreaking activists are told in Undivided Rights: Women of Color Organizing for Reproductive Justice.
Reproductive Justice
About the Book From Our Blog About the Author Reviews Table of Contents Related Books About the Book Reproductive Justice is a first-of-its-kind primer that provides a comprehensive yet succinct description of the field. Written by two legendary scholar-activists, Reproductive Justice introduces students to an intersectional analysis of race, class, and gender politics. Loretta J.
Ms. Magazine Blog
Read more Ms. Marches posts here. Join the Ms. Marches Facebook group to find protests—and feminists!—near you. Dred Feminist Rant is a new series by Loretta Ross featuring her thoughts on the issues facing the feminist movement—and women around the country. I’ve fought white supremacy, misogyny and anti-Semitism for what feels like most of my life.
Speaking Up Without Tearing Down
Why Classrooms Are Made for Calling In Teaching calling-in practices means teaching students techniques to avoid escalating conflicts and to relate to each other in affirming ways. When we teach call-in skills, we create what we need for ourselves and our students: brave spaces in which everyone understands that people make mistakes, that people come from diverse cultures and languages that may use words differently, and that people should not be punished for not knowing the right words to say.
Speaking Up Without Tearing Down
In a classroom with a call-in culture, for example, a white student denying white privilege by pointing out how hard his parents worked is regarded first as a classmate who’s not understanding, not as a member of a privileged class refusing to acknowledge his advantages. The student’s statement offers an opportunity for peers to teach one another, for example, by asking if he has ever had the experience of being stopped by the police for no reason while walking down the street.
How to Prepare for a Post-Roe America
Purvi Patel was convicted of feticide May 30, 2015, and faced 20 years in prison in South Bend, Ind., before a higher court overturned the ruling on appeal. In a post-Roe America, charges similar to Patel’s could become widespread. (Robert Franklin/ South Bend Tribune via Associated Press) Within a few years, abortion will likely be illegal in close to half of U.S. states—if we’re lucky.
How to Prepare for a Post-Roe America
Reader donations, many as small as just $1, have kept In These Times publishing for 45 years. Once you've finished reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to support this work. Within a few years, abortion will likely be illegal in close to half of U.S. states — if we’re lucky. Republicans could soon move to pass a total abortion ban, extending the right to life guaranteed in the 14th Amendment down to the moment of conception— and have the Supreme Court votes to uphold it.
Paying it Forward Instead of Looking Backwards
Content Notice: This article is part of the #LoveWITHAccountability forum on The Feminist Wire. The purpose of this forum and the #LoveWITHAccountability project is to prioritize child sexual abuse, healing, and justice in national dialogues and work on racial justice and gender-based violence.
Planned Parenthood's Next President Should Be A Woman Of Color
Last week, Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood, announced that she is stepping down after more than a decade of excellent service leading the nation’s largest provider of reproductive health care. As the first president hired from outside the ranks of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Richards has helped the organization meet the challenges of the 21st century.
11 Great Fall Reads For Feminists
This powerful primer introduces a movement that looks beyond pro-choice activism. Its authors critique america’s dark history of population control policies and demand reproductive equity regardless of gender, class or race. Using international human rights standards, they envision marginalized women gaining the right to health care, day care and contraception; the right to mother; and the right to raise children in a safe and healthy environment.
These 8 Books Explain Where Feminism Is In 2017, And Where It's Going
Feminism is changing. With the rise of social media, feminist discourse moves at breakneck pace, broadening the movement and embracing new quesitons and criticisms. And yet, the essential preoccupations of women fighting for equality remain the same: reproductive rights, economic freedom, education, and personal safety, to name just a few.
Eugenics Behind Bars
California's dark history with forced sterilization, including a state program that involuntarily sterilized more than 20,000 people between 1909 and 1964, has gained attention as activists work to pass SB 1135, a “Sunshine” bill that will strengthen bans on sterilizations done for the purpose of birth control. Central California Women's Facility, shown above, is the largest female prison in the United States.
Why Is Reproductive Justice Vital in This Political Moment? A New Book Breaks It Down
Loretta Ross is one of the mothers of the reproductive-justice movement. Now she and historian Rickie Solinger have a new book out seeking to introduce the concept to new audiences. By Dani McClainTwitter June 13, 2017 fb tw mail Print msg wa sms Loretta J. Ross. (Screen capture courtesy of AOL Makers) Ready to fight back? Sign up for Take Action Now and get three actions in your inbox every week. You will receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism.
Mourning Norma McCorvey: The Story of Jane Roe is a Lifelong Struggle to Heal from Hardship and Abuse
When I heard about Norma McCorvey’s death on February 18, 2017, I felt extreme pity. Not the normal sadness when another human being dies, but a special sorrow for the woman who was shamed for her choices by both sides of the abortion debate. Norma was a woman with a hard life and tough options. She was a poor girl in Texas raised by an alcoholic mother after her father abandoned the family. At 10 she was sent to reform school for theft, denying her an education, and she never graduated high school.
How Women of Color Have Broadened and Redefined Reproductive Rights
For decades, Black, Native, Latina and Asian American women have led the fight to control their own bodies, health and reproductive destinies, with or without the help of the mainstream pro-choice movement. The stories of just some of these groundbreaking activists are told in Undivided Rights: Women of Color Organizing for Reproductive Justice.
Women’s Rights Are Human Rights and the Women’s March on Washington
I won’t be at the Women’s March on Washington this weekend because I can’t—I can’t get to D.C., can’t physically march anymore, can’t afford the trip, and so on. But I wish I could, so I’ll attend the simultaneous event here in Atlanta this Saturday. My heart will be in D.C., though, because I’ve helped organize women of color for most of the large national women’s protest marches in Washington since the 1980s.
Defeating Personhood: A Critical But Incomplete Victory for Reproductive Justice
See all our coverage of the Mississippi Egg-As-Person Defeat here, our coverage of Mississippi Initiative (Prop) 26 here, and our coverage of egg-as-person initiatives here.
How to Prepare for a Post-Roe America
Since 9/11, billions of dollars have been spent on sniffing out “Islamist” terrorism, while for decades multiple presidential administrations—both Republican and Democrat—have largely neglected the white supremacist and anti-abortion movements, allowing them to proliferate and strengthen. These two movements have long been connected.
Here's a Much-Needed History Lesson on the Origins of the Term 'Women of Color'
Have you ever wondered where the term “women of color” came from? Have you mistakenly assumed that it was created by white people? Are you unsure about how you feel about it? Check out this awesome video where Loretta Ross gives a history lesson on how it came to be, what it really means, and why it’s so important. Let us know if you use it – and why or why not. With Love, The Editors at Everyday Feminism Click for the Transcript Loretta Ross: You all know where the term women of color came from?
Eugenicists Never Retreat, They Just Regroup: Sterilization and Reproductive Oppression in Prisons
Commentary Human Rights Jun 12, 2014, 11:26am Loretta Ross After winning a settlement against the IUD that caused my sterilization, I naively thought we had seen the end of sterilization atrocities. Women demonstrate at an anti-eugenics protest circa 1971, in a photograph originally published by the Southern Conference Educational Fund. WikiMedia Commons I was sterilized in 1976 when I was 23 years old.
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