About Us
Who We Are
Techies for Reproductive Justice is a coalition space for abortion-minded* technologists to convene to build connection, trust, tech literacy, and capacity within the abortion access movement and across values-aligned movements. We envision this cohort of technologists grounded in Reproductive Justice combatting the problems of burnout, isolation, and scarcity so that a community of tech-capable, values-aligned people can be ready to support abortion funds, practical support orgs, advocacy orgs, and anybody on the front-lines holding the line for bodily autonomy.
What is Reproductive Justice?
- the right to have children
- the right not to have children
- the right to raise those children in a safe and healthy environment
- the right to express your gender and sexuality
Learn more about Reproductive Justice from SisterSong.
Who is this community for?
- technologists** passionate about reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy, including abortion access, trans and intersex rights, and racial justice
- people working or volunteering in values-aligned movements who want to deepen their technical skills
- allies in trans and lgbtq rights, racial justice, Indigenous rights, immigrant rights, mutual aid, sex worker, disability justice, environmental justice, labor organizing, etc. communities
Terms
- *abortion-minded – here we mean much broader than pro-abortion and the abortion movement. The Reproductive Justice framework begs us to look beyond abortion to full reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy. Trans folks are under attack. The right to vote is under racist attack. Our planet is burning. Housing is unaffordable. Prisons are overflowing. These are all reproductive justice issues. We must unite for liberation.
- **technologist – you do not have to be a professional or have a formal background in tech to be a technologist! We are calling all volunteers and professionals, accidental techies, IT folks, digital security workers, software developers, product managers, support technicians, spreadsheet wizards, data divas, and engineers alike.
Vision + Values
Our Goals
We work to build trust, capacity, and connection within and among the abortion access movement and technology communities.
We seek to create:
- cross-movement networks of values-aligned technologists showing up to support those on the frontlines
- greater ease in finding tech assistance & volunteers for frontline orgs
- resiliency & redundancy in critical systems and roles within our movement infrastructure
- interwoven system of tech support – if one org falls or has reduced capacity, there will be coverage/support
- a pipeline for technologists into the movement and for movement folks into technology
- movement orientation for technologists to solidify understanding of reproductive justice, anti-racism, and how to incorporate this into tech support
- easy onboarding ramp for aspiring to experienced technologists into working on projects within the causes they care about, including ongoing tech assistance work and software projects
- space for fun, learning, sharing, experimentation, art, imagination, levity!
- regularly occurring space for creativity, fun, and imagination
- safe space for new ideas and experiments
- opportunities for deepening knowledge and practice of reproductive justice, anti-racism, decolonization, abolition, and other justice-oriented frameworks
- friendship and connection
Our Values
Techies for Reproductive Justice value autonomy, consent, and liberation.
- We are unapologetically pro-abortion, pro-trans rights, pro-human rights and upholding bodily autonomy. Disabled people are not disposable. Immigrants are not illegal. Living beings are more precious than borders, power, and profit.
- We are committed to centering the Reproductive Justice framework, anti-racism and decolonization, and to decentering whiteness, knowing that we, as works in progress, might have to interrupt our own internalized behaviors.
- We will seek to bust cycles of shame and stigma wherever we can. We are sex-positive, abortion-positive, drug-user-positive. What is legal is not necessarily what’s just.
- We believe the true innovation would be full liberation for all. We adhere to movement over brand, solidarity over charity, liberation over legalization (divest from policing), and care over punishment (abolish carceral systems).
Get Involved
Apply Here!
The heart of T4RJ is obviously building community around volunteering. Examples of volunteering with T4RJ include:
- Working on existing abortion tech projects
- Working directly with funds on tech projects, in consultant-style roles like…
- Software development
- Product management
- Product documentation
- Getting trained on how to provide digital security trainings
- Vetting volunteers for other groups
- Mentoring other techies (and movement folks who want to be more technical!)
- Helping us build T4RJ
Monthly Events
We’ll be starting each meeting with an interactive presentation time, where we’ll be hearing from and discussing topics within reproductive rights, reproductive justice, and allied movements with time for coworking and/or socialization after the presentation.
Slack
We’ll be facilitating T4RJ in a Slack workspace. The space will be open only to people who have been vetted by the DDF team and who have either attended an orientation or watched an orientation and given us take-aways (see below).
Orientation
So that we’re all on the same page, we’re requiring everyone to go through an orientation before they can access Slack and our monthly events. Orientation can be completed synchronously or asynchronously (with submission of follow up questions).
In the orientation, we’ll be covering what reproductive justice is and how it differs from reproductive rights; our vision for this space; an overview of the abortion landscape; and go over some logistics.
Apply Now!
Interested in what technology can do for Reproductive Justice, and what Reproductive Justice can do for technology?
Apply Here!
