UCLA

In Closer to Reproductive Freedom, I examine the emergence of a Black-led birth center and the reclamation of traditions of Black Birth work in the context of organized reproductive abandonment. Using participant observations, interviews and auto-ethnography I investigate how Black women who experience pregnancy both inside and outside of a prison context think about and practice care in spite of pervasive threats to their survival. Ultimately, I argue that the quotidian epistemologies and praxes of care I witnessed in this burgeoning space lay the groundwork for reproductive liberation.