Decolonising Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights

by Kimberly Anindo

Colonisation has had a lasting impact on a majority of the world. Its mark has shaped the way research and knowledge are conducted and perceived. Western perspectives have become the dominant culture superseding culturally relevant learning. It is assumed colonisation and race serve one another, yet colonisation affects all other facets of our lives. By using intersectional theory, we can begin to understand that although race was fundamental to the colonial system – it never ended there.

Colonialism has led to the oppression of women and sexual minorities; removing their capacity for agency and choice when it comes to Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR). This history of oppression has damaged perceptions around access to SRHR. For instance, contraception is associated with a strong history of eugenics and fears surrounding population control.

SRHR are a broad range of fundamental physical and mental rights intrinsic to all individuals.

They include a variety of topics such as: access to family planning services; sexual health information; sexual health autonomy; pregnancy and prenatal care; prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections; prevention of gender-based violence; abortion services; the ability to freely express sexual and gender identities; and menstrual health education and access to products.

Female bodies are treated differently depending on race and ethnicity and women of colour are often forced to have some of these procedures without their consent. Common examples include: forced abortions and sterilisation all in the name of ‘population control’ under the guise of ‘aid’. Much of this violence is institutional and is combined with racist and inaccessible health care.

In the example of abortion, colonial laws labelled it “mortal sin” because it did not align with Christian values. Its criminalisation helped to enforce Christian morality. However, under precolonial society abortion was considered a private matter – for resolution by the family. Notably, the son of the founder of the Bastho Nation (now Lesotho) said he “never heard of any punishment being inflicted for this offence.”

“The primary function of law when regulating abortion should not be to curtail choice but to ensure that termination is carried out safely. Decolonisation requires a paradigm shift; a shift from a crime and punishment approach to a reproductive health approach.”

Decolonisation & The Indigenous Voice

Make it stan

“As a social group, they [Black peoples] share common history of slavery, colonialism and the experience of racial inferiorisation, oppression, exploitation, marginalisation, disempowerment, cultural imperialism, and violence.”

The nature of colonisation is to enter communities and take; what is left is an othering of that community. Most Western knowledge is based on the preconceived notion that the rest of the world operates in a similar fashion, making it culturally insensitive. Decolonisation works against that.

It emphasises indigenous voices rather than deferring to colonial institutions for answers, it centres their voices in the work. Furthermore, decolonisation is the belief that indigenous people know and understand themselves fully to speak about their own experiences. However, decolonisation does not mean opposition to Western methods, instead it is the co-design of solutions with those that will benefit.

Countdown 2030 Europe formally defines decolonisation as “…the process by which colonies free themselves from colonisers politically, socially and economically. It is the process of reclaiming and reimaging indigenous identities, knowledge, cultures and systems of governance.”

It is important to remember that coloniality survives colonialism. That is why decolonisation focuses on more than just the institutional oppression of people. Coloniality is the effects of colonialism as an organising principle; meaning colonisation will have the same patterns but may present differently in specific regions.

The Solution

“There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle as we do not live single issue lives.” (Aurde Lorde)

However far we try to remove ourselves from the damage of colonialism, we find ourselves coming back to it as a foundation for the Global Majority’s societal issues.

Countdown 2030 Europe’s 10 Decolonial Guiding Principles is a great place to start for organisations who are looking to decolonise from the Western perspective and centre indigenous people in their stories. From an intersectional feminist approach number 6; showing solidarity with global reproductive issues is crucial if we are to fully decolonise SRHR.

Additionally, there is a return to indigenous knowledge bases that exercise a natural lens for reproductive health. This requires having an open mind to different perspectives and cultures, rather than imposing Eurocentric ideals to every event and project; speaking to and consulting indigenous people and organisations and finding out what is important to them rather than assuming our goals are all the same.

Finally, there are 3 steps we can collectively take towards decolonisation:

1.      Build a trusted community

2.      Engage the community

3.      Challenge academia and push policy makers