Reproductive Freedom: Organizing Beyond the State
With Jex Blackmore & Hydra Fund
Government control of reproductive capacity has long persisted as a tool to subordinate birthing people, women, people of color, people living on lower incomes, and other marginalized groups. The Supreme Court’s harmful ruling in Dobbs made clear that both the State, its actors, and the non-profit industrial complex have failed the people, giving rise to the urgent necessity for the movement to defend itself through direct provisions to the community.
Building on the direct action model of abortion accompaniment developed by global feminist groups, this workshop provided context to the current crisis surrounding bodily autonomy and reproduction and shared a roadmap for subverting state control by building networks of support to provide safe and effective abortion regardless of legality.
Participating Artists & Collaborators:
Jex Blackmore (they/them) is best known for their performances in civic spaces. Their work, which is focused on the relationship between moral religious rhetoric, sexuality, and political policy, takes aim at institutions of social and sexual oppression. They have been featured in numerous publications such as TIME, Vanity Fair, Washington Post, NPR, Cosmopolitan, and Salon. In 2015, they organized the largest Satanic gathering in history to unveil The Satanic Temple’s Baphomet monument in Detroit, which was featured on CNN’s “This is Life with Lisa Ling.” From 2017-2018 they were a columnist at VICE Magazine covering reproductive legislation. Their reproductive healthcare advocacy has ranged from filmmaking, performance, writing about their personal abortion experience in the viral blog entitled “Unmother,” and debating the Westboro Baptist Church. Their work is featured in the Magnolia Pictures documentary, "Hail Satan?", which was an official selection at Sundance 2019. Jex’s first installation "Sex Militant," held at Chicago's Co-Prosperity Sphere, was listed as one of the best art exhibitions of 2019 by the Chicago Reader and was duly protested by the Catholic Church. In 2020, their experimental endurance film "An Undue Burden," premiered at the Ann Arbor Film Festival, the oldest experimental film festival in the United States. In 2022, they took an abortion pill on live TV to spread the word about the availability of mail order abortion.
