Birth Justice & Midwifery in NB

The Birth Justice Research Initiative investigates issues of access to inclusive pregnancy and birth services in the province of New Brunswick. Our work contributes to research and social action for inclusive reproductive health care in the province. This involves working in alliance with movements for reproductive justice which include access to abortion and culturally appropriate care for all people in the province. We are based out of Mount Allison University in Sackville, NB, in the expansive territory of Mi’kma’ki.

 
 

Our research and activism are informed by and based in intersectional feminist analysis and the movement for reproductive justice. This means that in our approach:

  • Gender diversity is recognized and celebrated: not all women can be (or want to be) pregnant, not only women can be (or want to be) pregnant. We resist the dominance of gender essentialism in research on birth and reproduction.

  • Anti-racism and anti-colonialism are centered, which includes a rejection of the cultural appropriation evident in some non-dominant reproductive healthcare spaces

  • We celebrate the many different forms that families take

  • We believe in the usefulness of medical interventions and scientific inquiry

  • We highly value birthing peoples’ informed choices while also being concerned about medicalization and gate keeping around medical procedures.

  • We pay attention to how power is visible and invisible and shapes processes of informed consent.

 

Birth Justice: An analysis of interlocking oppressions and marginalizations and how they influence birth experiences and birth outcomes.