Prop 8 Court Victory: A Reproductive Justice Win Too

Today, LGBT rights supporters are celebrating a well-deserved victory after Judge Vaughn Walker struck down the discriminatory Proposition 8 ballot initiative that tried to ban gay marriage in California. But Reproductive Justice advocates are celebrating the Perry v. Schwarzenegger ruling right alongside them, and with good reason.

As Shira Saperstein has written:

Reproductive rights are about far more than abortion—they also encompass contraception, adoption, and intimate relationships, including marriage. The ability to manage our fertility through contraception and, when necessary, abortion, enables us to plan our families and to determine whether, when, and with whom to have children. Adoption, too, allows caring adults to become parents and form loving families. And marriage provides legal and social benefits that make it easier to care for one another and to raise children with the security and resources they need to thrive.

These rights are indivisible, and defending them comes not only from a concern for women or for the GLBT community. Reproductive rights are about nothing less than the ability to chart one’s own course in life—to make decisions about love, sex, and family without government interference or discrimination. That ability is central to core American values of freedom, equality, and fairness. It is time for progressives to join together in support of a complete and comprehensive reproductive rights agenda that advances liberty and justice for all.

Read more here.

This article was originally published in RH Reality Check.