“This moment has really illustrated that many people feel like they can be feminist while also supporting genocide.'
Palestinian woman Nour Bedwan, who gave birth at a Jerusalem school after being displaced from her home in Gaza during the Israeli attacks, feeds her baby in Rafah, Gaza, on November 28, 2023.as a result of Israel’s bombing of the territory, the silence of some of the biggest reproductive rights nonprofits in the U.S. has led pro-Palestine reproductive justice advocates and workers to question the purpose and commitment of many within the reproductive rights movement.
Kiema describes the dissonance between working in a human rights-based field and opening her phone to see news of murdered women and children in Palestine. Particularly as a Black woman, Kiema says the refusal of white feminists to speak out about Palestine reminds her of white feminism’s lack of solidarity and action with regard to police violence and other issues related to race and racism.
Internally, sources report that there have been conflicts in big organizations over whether to make a statement on Palestine. Organizations that have made statements on the reproductive rights crisis in Ukraine haven’t said anything about Israel’s genocide and targeting of the health care systems in Palestine.
Another reproductive rights worker who is Middle Eastern noted a similar dynamic in their workplace. “Growing up, in the identities that I hold, I’ve always been very aware that Palestine was always off the table as a public conversation, and I think this is really showing proof of that right now,” they said. “If I don’t disassociate, I can’t do my job. But that’s not the case for people who are pro-Israel.
“At ARC-Southeast, we put political education into practice internally in as many ways as possible,” said Musa Springer, media and communications manager at the organization. “So the topic of Palestine and Palestinian liberation has never been off the table for us. We also operate under the assumption that solidarity is a lot stronger than corporate donors, so we did have a conversation about what potential backlash looked like.
“Western feminists generally, not just in the U.S., they’re turning a blind eye to their sisters in the Middle East, and you have to ask yourself, why?” a consultant working on reproductive rights who prefers to remain anonymous said.
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