  |  |  |  |  |  |
Over 85% of women behind bars were first victims of sexual or other physical violence; the cradle-to-prison pipeline for disadvantaged men parallels a pipeline from birth to sexual violence to the criminal justice system for women at the margins. Saar insists that the voices of marginalized, invisible, and forgotten women are critical to the reproductive justice movement.
Malika Saada Saar, M.Ed, J.D., is the founder and executive director of the Rebecca Project for Human Rights, a national legal and policy organization that advocates for justice, dignity, and reform for vulnerable families. The Rebecca Project works to reform policies and practices that help families be free from sexual and physical violence, trauma and addiction. Its achievements have been recognized by the Ford Foundation’s “Leadership for a Changing World” and Redbook Magazine’s Mothers and Shakers awards. Saada Saar is the founder of Crossing the River, a written and spoken word workshop for mothers in recovery from substance abuse and violence, and the founder of Family Rights and Dignity, a civil rights project for low income and homeless families. She has served on the Obama Presidential Campaign’s Women Policy Committee, and on the board of several organizations. Saada Saar and The Rebecca Project have been featured in Politico, Essence Magazine, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Good Morning America, USA Today, Tavis Smiley Show, and Redbook Magazine.
