Throughout the following sections , I will be referring to this definition of reproductive justice to show the Gender Based Defence does not guarantee reproductive justice for gender minorities .
Criticising the Gender Based Defence
It seems the Gender Based Defence may well provide reproductive justice for everyone able to bear children . Under the Feminist Proviso , all women are oppressed by the same oppressor – men . This applies to all groups of women , regardless of other oppressive forces at work . As a result , as an oppressed group , they are all exempt from making sacrifices under the Impermissible Sacrifice Principle . This serves as justification for the legalisation of abortion , when all other things are equal . Yet , it is precisely this that causes problems for Markowitz . All other things are not equal , and not all who are able to gestate are women . Markowitz ’ s continuous attempts to place womanhood above all else excludes transmen , non-binary and gender fluid individuals from her argument . In this section , I will address this exclusion in more depth .
Markowitz makes it clear that her Gender Based Defence is committed to ending sexism , yet the argument justifying abortion depends entirely on the oppression of women . Should this oppression be removed ( presumably , it would be , in the egalitarian society she envisions ), then women would no longer be an oppressed group and would therefore no longer qualify for the Impermissible Sacrifice Principle . In other words , the Impermissible Sacrifice Principle would not apply to them . It therefore follows that access to abortion would again be restricted . Within this , lies a complication . The Proviso does not account for all people who are able to get pregnant - it only accounts for cisgender women . Markowitz ’ s argument , therefore , does not include gender minorities , especially as she points out that “ only women can find themselves pregnant against their wills .” 17
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