BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ Reproductive Acupuncture Scholarship Fund

We Envision a World Where All People Have Access to Reproductive Healthcare

What is Reproductive Justice?

SisterSong defines Reproductive Justice as the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities.

Our Commitment

Address

inequities, implicit bias, racism and deficit framing narratives within our clinic with ongoing cultural competency training for all our acupuncturists and staff. This work is continual and helps us learn, grow, and celebrate the love, wonder and joy in our communities despite our many challenges.

Create

a safe, welcoming and inclusive clinic space.
pathways for BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and people living with disabilities to access Reproductive Acupuncture and postpartum healthcare by acknowledging and reducing financial barriers.

Offer

a Reproductive Acupuncture Scholarship fund for BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and people living with disabilities seeking financial assistance for their acupuncture treatments as they pursue growing their families.

Educate

our colleagues about the impact of racism, structural inequities, and implicit bias in the healthcare field, in addition to changing the narrative from deficit framing to stories of joy, aspirations, accomplishments and the many contributions of all our human family.

Do you identify as Black, Indigenous, Person of Color, LGBTQIA+, or a person living with a disability?

You belong here too.

Reproductive Acupuncture Scholarship Application

Would you like to help support this initiative?

Please join us! 100% of contributions will go directly to our Reproductive Acupuncture scholarship fund for BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ and people living with disabilities.

Contribute Today

What We Are Doing

We have established a Reproductive Acupuncture scholarship fund for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) for LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, +) and people living with disabilities to pursue natural healthcare options in their fertility healthcare journey through Chinese medicine.

We are contributing our services of acupuncture to this effort, as well as inviting our community to make an optional financial contribution to help fund the scholarship.

Pursuing fertility, pregnancy, labor, birth, postpartum and ongoing afterbirth healthcare through Chinese medicine, can be a long and costly undertaking. We are not assuming that all BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and people living with disabilities need financing, yet we recognize that the US has created a concentration of wealth in predominantly white, cis, hetero, male, and able bodied people and left a dearth of resources to many.

We intend to reduce financial obstacles where they exist, and to provide encouragement, support, resources, and to improve access to the fertility acupuncture healthcare services we provide.

pexels-tubarones-photography

Why a Reproductive Acupuncture Scholarship fund for BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ and people living with disabilities?

Reducing Financial Barriers to Reproductive Acupuncture

We recognize that past and present systems of oppression have resulted in many communities of people being denied access to reproductive health care and support, resulting in tremendous disparities in health outcomes. We are dedicated to addressing these economic disparities within the field of Reproductive Acupuncture and improving access to our clinic and services.

Building Multicultural Communities and Futures

We imagine a future where all people have access to creating healthy thriving families, contributing to a culturally rich, beautiful, and flourishing community. We believe that culturally competent care from Reproductive Acupuncturists working within their communities can improve both live birth and maternal health outcomes for parents from historically oppressed groups. We are focusing on reducing financial barriers and improving access to reproductive healthcare to make this dream a reality.

Acknowledgements

This scholarship fund began as a deep immersion into anti-racist training and a personal project of undoing whiteness in both ourselves, individually, and our clinic, in the aftermath of the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery (among many other black bodies) during the 2020-2022 global pandemic where the United States glaring racial violence, economic disparities, healthcare, education, and housing inequities continue to be laid bare.

We would like to thank the following people who have held us close to their beating hearts while they worked tirelessly to awaken us to the stark realities of a racially unjust society, continually opening our eyes to see, and our hearts to feel and imagine a new future, a future where all people have access to creating healthy thriving families and contributing to a culturally rich, beautiful, and flourishing community.

We are deeply grateful to so many, including Amber McZeal, Lauren Kite, Reya Born, and Amanda Grelock. This project would not have been possible without them.

Special Thanks To:

Amber McZeal (she/her/hers)

Writer, vocalist, sacred scholar, and activist Amber McZeal utilizes sound therapy and guided somatic imagery to engage the knowledge of the body within an interactive and liberatory arts practice. Amber McZeal weaves together somatic practice with social justice and spirituality. Her approach centers imagination as foundational to movements to end oppression and create more humane social relationships. Learn more about Amber and her amazing work here: https://decolonizingthepsyche.com/

Lauren Kite (she/her/hers)

As a teacher and facilitator of more than 10+ years, Lauren brings an experienced, keen, and discerning lens to the on-going conversation around environmental and social justice. Lauren has a passion for supporting individuals and organizations to identify and implement sustainable and integrated action, while fostering a radically respectful internal culture of learning, growth, and accountability, for deeper and more lasting impact. Learn more about Lo and her amazing work here: The ReCenter

National Resources

Local Resources

References

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System.” 2019 October 10. Retreived from https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/maternal-mortality/pregnancy-mortality-surveillance-system.htm.
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Crenshaw, Kimberlé. “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics.” University of Chicago Legal Forum: Vol. 1989: Iss. 1, Article 8. Retrieved from: http://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclf/vol1989/iss1/8
Jones, Camara P. “Invited Commentary: “Race,” Racism, and the Practice of Epidemiology.” American Journal of Epidemiology. 2001 August. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/154.4.299.
Williams, David, et al. “Racism and Health: Evidence and Needed Research.” Annual Review of Public Health. 2019. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040218-043750.
Geronimus, Arline T., et al. “‘Weathering’ and Age Patterns of Allostatic Load Scores Among Blacks and Whites in the United States.” American Journal of Public Health. 2006 May. Retrieved from www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1470581/.
Lackland, Daniel T. “Racial Differences in Hypertension: Implications for High Blood Pressure Management.” The American Journal of the Medical Sciences. 2014 August. U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved from www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4108512.
Elizabeth Brondolo, et al. “Racism and Hypertension: A Review of the Empirical Evidence and Implications for Clinical Practice.” American Journal of Hypertension. 2011 May. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1038/ajh.2011.9
Carli, Linda L. “Gender and Social Influence.” Journal of Social Issues, vol. 57, no. 4. 2001. Retrieved from http://academics.wellesley.edu/Psychology/Psych/Faculty/Carli/GenderAndSocialInfluence.pdf
Declercq, Eugene, et all. “Report of the Third National U.S. Survey of Women’s Childbearing Experiences.” Childbirth Connection. 2013 May. Retrieved from https://www.nationalpartnership.org/our-work/resources/health-care/maternity/listening-to-mothers-iii-pregnancy-and-birth-2013.pdf
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The Lotus Effect

Have you ever seen a lotus leaf after a rainstorm? Often it will look like jewels of water are resting on the leaves. These “jewels”, or droplets of water, pick-up particles of dirt as they roll over the surface of the leaf, cleansing the leaf so that it can maintain its powerful process of photosynthesis, converting the sunlight into the energy it needs to thrive.

This is known as the Lotus Effect, and is how we envision our work with our patients, helping each person to turn obstacles into opportunities and nourish their destiny.

“I have noticed that people are dealing too much with the negative, with what is wrong. They do not touch enough on what is not wrong. . . . Why not try the other way, to look into the patient and to see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom?” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

We Envision a World Where All People Have Access to Reproductive Healthcare

Our Commitment

Address

Create

Offer

Educate

Do you identify as Black, Indigenous, Person of Color, LGBTQIA+, or a person living with a disability?

Would you like to help support this initiative?

What We Are Doing

Why a Reproductive Acupuncture Scholarship fund for BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ and people living with disabilities?

Acknowledgements

Special Thanks To:

Amber McZeal (she/her/hers)

Lauren Kite (she/her/hers)

National Resources

Local Resources

References

The Lotus Effect

Request Our Report

Contact

BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ Reproductive Acupuncture Scholarship Fund

We Envision a World Where All People Have Access to Reproductive Healthcare

Our Commitment

Address

Create

Offer

Educate

Do you identify as Black, Indigenous, Person of Color, LGBTQIA+, or a person living with a disability?

Would you like to help support this initiative?

What We Are Doing

Why a Reproductive Acupuncture Scholarship fund for BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ and people living with disabilities?

Acknowledgements

Special Thanks To:

Amber McZeal (she/her/hers)

Lauren Kite (she/her/hers)

National Resources

Local Resources

References

Share this entry

The Lotus Effect

Request Our Report

Contact