What is the Collective?
GENUINE Collective stands for
Genetics Providers United in Efforts for Reproductive Justice.
The GENUINE Collective is an independent group of clinical genetics professionals dedicated to shameless advocacy for reproductive justice in the United States of America & around the world.
Our mission is two-fold:
To serve as a landing page of reproductive justice advocacy resources and activist opportunities for clinical genetics professionals, and
To host an open discussion forum for Collective members via our members-only Slack channel.
The Collective is entirely not-for-profit and volunteer-run.
We depend on volunteers from all people groups, communities, and perspectives to contribute to the Collective, and welcome critical feedback on ways in which to promote and sustainably maintain an inclusive, diverse, and equitable space devoted to reproductive justice work. All members of the Collective are equal players.
At present, our long-term goals include:
Amplifying existing grassroots reproductive justice work for genetics providers (and anyone else interested) to directly and tangibly support. This is our primary focus.
Enacting sustainable change to the manner in which reproductive justice issues are taught in genetic counseling graduate programs in order to de-stigmatize abortion, in addition to validating and supporting the reproductive choices of all people across the lifespan. This may include creating draft curricula, suggested ACGC standards changes, and providing accessible, online opportunities for pro-abortion continuing education.
Creating a mechanism in which abortion research at the intersection of clinical genetics and public health is financially prioritized within our community.
Importantly, while persons involved in the Collective may hold memberships in various professional medical societies, GENUINE Collective is not, in any way, affiliated with any regional or national professional medical societies.
Why should clinical genetics providers care about reproductive justice?
Gynecological history & context
American gynecology was developed out of unethical experimentation on enslaved Black women who could not consent to these procedures.
Marginalized individuals have long been the targets of forced or coerced sterilization and birth control. This includes individuals of racial and ethnic minorities, including Indigenous/Native people, people with disabilities, and poor people.
Clinical genetics history & context
The field of clinical human genetics was birthed during the height of the eugenics movement in the United States.
Yet, current practice often neglects to acknowledge the field’s inherent association with eugenic ideology at its inception.
People of color and marginalized populations continue to have disproportionate access to genomic medical services, particularly as they relate to reproductive healthcare.
Public policy history & context
Influenced by eugenic philosophy of the time, antebellum and early 20th century United States immigration policies were designed to ensure a white, Protestant America with wealthy white men of Anglo-Saxon descent cemented at the highest caste. These social engineering schemes long demanded that maternity be enforced among both Black women (to ensure the lowest-caste workforce) and white, Protestant women (to ensure generational superiority). Meanwhile, parenthood was discouraged or even prevented for other people groups based on public policies rooted in racism, ableism, and classism.