Flexible Feminism and Reproductive Justice : An Essay in Honor of Ann Scales

Professor Ann Scales began her distinguished career by taking feminism and reproductive justice seriously. She became a leading feminist voice and influence on a number of topics. In later years, she returned to concerns about reproductive justice by presciently emphasizing the need to preserve women’s access to abortions. This Essay discusses Professor Scales’s concerns and feminist method and then turns to reproductive justice. The Essay notes that, with Scales, a right to abortion is foundational for reproductive justice. The Essay then examines the increasing narrowing of access to abortion through law. The Essay next examines a current crisis over access to contraception, including arguments that some contraceptives are abortifacients and therefore should not be available and the debate over insurance coverage for contraception under the Affordable Care Act. The Essay concludes with an examination of what reproductive justice advocates can do to stop what appears to be a steady undermining of rights to abortion and contraception, drawing in part on Professor Scales’s concern with always examining women’s voices and using political as well as litigation strategies