THE “SISTERSONG COLLECTIVE”: WOMEN OF COLOR, REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Abstract: Reproductive health among women of color suffers in the absence of true rights-based health care; the human rights framework should be an integral component of the health care system in the United States. This paper is a case study of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Project founded in 1998 and its efforts to address the current reproductive health situation of women of color in the United States. The paper will then argue that the human rights movement can incorporate the needs of women of color into its agenda. And finally, it will also discuss the reconceptualization of human rights by women of color. The organizations involved in SisterSong are responding to and using their own histories and experiences in organizing their communities to develop and apply human rights standards to reproductive health education and services for women of color. Around the world, the reproductive health needsof women of color are sadly neglected or ac-tively harmed. Whether through the neglect of health care delivery systems or through aggressive population control strategies, the reproductive health rights of women of color are constantly compromised by poverty, racism, sexism, homophobia, and injustice. There is a dialectica