Reproductive Justice

     Today was the first of the WLA spring speaker series so we all got to hear a graduate student give an incredibly informative presentation on reproductive justice in Boricua and Chicana histories.

     She began by explaining to the history of abuses to Puerto Rican women during the 1950s and 1960s. During this time, birth control pills were tested on hundreds of women without their consent or knowledge; they were simply given a pill (which were 20-30 times more potent then than they are now) by a doctor and told that it would be beneficial for their health. Sterilization procedures or "La Operacion" were also widely used on women with sketchy consent forms and little to no knowledge on the part of the patients as to the consequences of the procedure. 

     Consequently, by the 1970s about 30% of Puerto Rican women were sterile; more women than any other country. These atrocities instigated a strong feminist movement by Puerto Rican women to reclaim their rights and recognize the injustices of these procedures. They fought for society to recognize that women had the right to choose whether or not they wanted children.

     The speaker also touched on similar feminist movements in Chicana communities where women embraced their culture and argued that having children or deciding against it was their right. 

    It was also really interesting to understand the differences between feminist groups according to the way they identify themselves. For example, feminist groups consisting of women of color like the Chicanas tend to incorporate both sexism and racism in their work while White feminists often focus on sexism alone. This difference can be seen, for example, in the way Chicana women celebrate their position as women and caretakers for large families while some White feminists might see this as sexist and a result of patriarchal society.

    Finally, the speaker told us about some organizations that are focused on the issue of reproductive health in Latina women like Mujeres Latinas en Accion.

    The speaker was great and I'm so glad I got to hear about an issue that is under publicized or even unknown.