Reproductive Autonomy of Black Women: Scoping Review
Published 2025-06-19
Keywords
- Women's Health,
- Personal Autonomy,
- Women,
- Black People,
- Sexual and Reproductive Health
How to Cite
Copyright (c) 2024 Eliana do Sacramento de Almeida , Ueigla Batista da Silva, Silvia Lúcia Ferreira, Evanilda Souza de Santana Carvalho, Sânzia Bezerra Ribeiro, Flávia Karine Leal Lacerda
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Abstract
Introduction
Reproductive autonomy refers to the power to decide and control issues related to contraception, pregnancy and motherhood. This is a historically neglected topic, especially in the case of black women, who are often marked by oppression and the denial of the right to control their reproductive capacity, being exposed to the effects of discrimination based on gender, race, sexuality and origin.
Objective
To map the knowledge produced on the Reproductive Autonomy of Black Women.
Methods
Scoping review based on the PCC mnemonic strategy, where Population: black women, Concept: reproductive autonomy and Context: global. The searches were carried out in the SciELO, Scopus, Web of Science, VHL Health (BDENF, LILACS, MEDLINE) and Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (BDTD) databases, in April 2024. Full texts were included, in all languages, without time frame. Texts that did not address the topic, were incomplete and/or unavailable for open access were excluded.
Results
18 publications were selected. The results showed that, although human rights are guaranteed by law, they are far from being guaranteed to women, especially black women. Social, economic, cultural, religious and family factors interfere with these women's reproductive choices, preventing them from exercising freedom over their bodies and wills, in addition to posing risks to sexual and reproductive health. There is a consensus on the need for support for black women, aiming to prevent coercion and support to increase awareness and exercise reproductive autonomy. Additionally, there is a scientific gap in the conceptualization and analysis of reproductive autonomy and associated factors.
Conclusion
Recognizing and combating racism as a determinant of black women's reproductive autonomy is crucial to achieving reproductive justice, therefore, it is necessary to develop new studies to delve deeper into the topic in question.