the kid makes me go to reproductive rights conferences

A few weeks ago, minicb asked me when the "kid conference" was going to be, is it soon i wanna go when IS ITMAMA. At first I had no idea what he was yapping about, until I remembered that he was talking about the annual "From Reproductive Rights to Social Justice" conference at Hampshire College. One of the few reproductive rights conferences I've been to (and its been a lot) that a) offers on-site childcare that's b) FREE. Minicb has been going for years and has so much fun he begs to go back. A bunch of college students plan activities for the kids--they eat goldfish crackers, visit the campus farm, make art, etc. Every year minicb belts out some Beatles or Bowie and of course the college kids think he's the hippest thing since sliced bread, which of course he is.

Although I signed up for the conference and do plan to attend, to be honest I am kind of over it. I get it. Reproductive rights and activism needs to be integrative. We need to recognize that struggles for reproductive rights are not solely about abortion but intersect with struggles for economic justice, environmental justice, civil liberties, sex education, LGBTQ rights, disabled rights, prisoner rights, peace and so on. I get it. I keep this in mind in my own professional, activist and academic work. I get it. I don't stand to really learn or grow from this conference the way that many of the 18-22 years attending do. But I'll go. There's a trans attorney who's work I've read who is presenting and I'd love to meet him. I have friends who are running workshops so I should go out and support them. Plus, there is free food and there will be plenty of cute grrrls there, definitely positive externalities.

I have to admit that the free childcare gets me there in the first place. If we’re going to work for reproductive rights than we need to think about the women who make the choice to have children and how to support them in that. Having childcare at conferences, especially reproductive rights conferences, is only the tip of that, but a huge and important step in the right direction. How can we build a movement for reproductive justice if the mamas are all stuck at home?