The Sad And Scary Truth About Reproductive Oppression And Black Women

Forbes

31-05-2025

Black woman pregnant.
getty
Earlier this month, an old clip of Rashida Jones' character on Netflix's #blackAF circulated social media of her referencing Black women being brought to the U.S. to breed babies. The now-viral clip has sparked debate about the accuracy of Jones's claim during the almost 20-second-long monologue. Despite arguments from critics and skeptics who question her comments, it is well documented that Black women were initially brought to the U.S. to perform various physically laborious tasks among those breeding babies -- an act that has since been referred to as reproductive oppression.
During the clip, Jones says that while some may wonder what would happen if shows like The Handmaid's Tale were true, they need not look far. The storyline of women being used and valued only as vessels to carry and deliver babies was a bitter reality for Black women in America at one time. During slavery, enslaved Black women in the United States were forcibly impregnated and exploited for their reproductive labor. This was a critical component of the slave breeding industry, which was driven by the economic need for labor and the dehumanization of enslaved people and is now referred to as reproductive oppression, which social scientists and historians refer to as the regulation, exploitation – and even in some cases, the monetization -- of individual's sexuality, labor, bodies, and procreative abilities to exercise control over individuals and communities. In particular, those who are marginalized. Additionally, reproductive oppression is rooted in the historical and ongoing struggle for reproductive rights among marginalized individuals – primarily focusing on how power and control are exercised and enforced over reproduction and reproduction-related choices.
The sexual and reproductive exploitation of enslaved Black women was a direct result of their dehumanization and the denial of their fundamental rights as individuals. Enslavers often encouraged and sometimes forced sexual relations between enslaved individuals, particularly between Black women and men, to increase their holdings and, ultimately, the profitability of enslaved people. The slave breeding system was rooted in the economic benefits derived from the labor of enslaved people. Black women's bodies were seen as a source of profit, and their reproductive capabilities were valued for the production of new enslaved people.
However, reproductive oppression did not stop after the emancipation of enslaved Black Americans and has been the foundation of eugenics legislation that forcibly sterilized marginalized communities. Other examples of reproductive oppression include limiting access to contraception, discriminatory healthcare practices and bias, and mass incarceration -- which can impact reproductive health and rights, with incarcerated women often facing barriers to accessing reproductive healthcare and discrimination. Some argue that a more recent and more nuanced example of reproductive oppression is currently happening in Georgia, where Adriana Smith, a 30-year-old nurse and mother, was declared brain-dead after suffering a medical emergency. At the time, Smith was nine weeks pregnant.
Despite being declared brain dead, Emory University Hospital is keeping Smith's organs functioning on life support until the fetus can be delivered due to Georgia's law banning most abortions after fetal cardiac activity is detected or about six weeks into pregnancy. Smith is currently 22 weeks pregnant and has been on life support for more than 90 days. This has been a heart-wrenching and excruciating experience for Smith's family, who simply wants the choice to act on Smith's behalf in a way that they feel their loved one would have wanted. As the current socio-political climate continues to change in the U.S., some fear the future of reproductive rights and the possibility of reproductive oppression being exercised in more overt and harmful ways, such as how Black women have been treated in the country for centuries.