ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author looks through a Black feminist abolitionist lens at her experiences of pregnancy, miscarriage, and medical violence and shares her journey to reclaim her power. The author is a criminologist turned abolitionist who for most of her adult life has worked to challenge and dismantle the coercion and exploitation of Black communities by colonial institutions of labor, punishment, and surveillance. During her first pregnancy, her baby and she was medically categorized as “high risk.” After sixteen hours of labor, Biko Ajani was born. In US society, patriarchal pressures accompany womanhood. Central is the pressure to produce babies. Her experiences of birthing her children and surviving a miscarriage have been among the most significant in her life.
