A Reproductive Justice Framework for Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Research and Practice

This is the first research project to apply a reproductive justice (RJ) approach to analyse reproductive exploitation (RE) in modern slavery and human trafficking (MS/HT).

This multi-level, mixed-methods, nested analysis project investigates the nexus between MS/HT and RJ from theoretical, law and policy, practice, and survivor perspectives.

Despite increasing calls to address MS/HT from human rights and public health perspectives (Shin, 2017; Such et al., 2020), and in the context eroding reproductive rights around the world (UN Women, 2023), RE remains an understudied and under-theorised issue that has grave health consequences for women, girls, and individuals who can bear children.

The goal is to develop a RJ framework for MS/HT research and practice to better identify and address RE and its health consequences.

Based on insights from feminist theory, and from fieldwork in three countries: the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Kenya, this project will investigate how different people understand and have applied reproductive justice in different country contexts, including Global North and Global South perspectives and addressing postcolonial legacies.

My research will produce new understanding about forms of RE and how RJ might be operationalised in MS/HT contexts to improve survivors’ reproductive rights and health outcomes.