Undivided Rights

The first chapter of Undivided Rights presents a number of definitions centered on various and ever-growing definitions around reproductive justice. It is in this chapter where the author mentions what these definitions look like in the lives of women of color vs those of white women. One of the points Jael Silliman makes on this issue is on page 12 where she states, “‘Choice’ implies a marketplace of options in which women’s right to determine what happens to their bodies is legally protected, ignoring the fact that for women of color, economic and institutional constraints often restrict their ‘choices’” (Silliman, 12).

           

            For white women, the fight for “choice” has focused on abortion, a woman’s decision to terminate a pregnancy when she chooses. However due to history of population control, women of color’s fight for “choice” and other areas of reproductive justice has focused largely on resisting population control through unknown/unwanted sterilization, the right to contraception, and the ability to have abortions when they choose. Resisting sterilization can often be difficult when the government wrongly bribes these women with government aid, housing, etc. if they go through the process of sterilization (a tool used to limit the growing population of people of color), thus putting these women at a crossroad. How is that right? Why can’t these women obtain these public benefits without giving up their freedom of reproduction? The government constantly attempts to keep these women of marginalized communities at the bottom of the totem pole by supplying these benefits in return for sterilization. Unfortunately for many women of color, they have no other choice but to follow through with this procedure because not only do they simply have no other means of obtaining health care, food stamps, etc., but also the very government promising these benefits is the same one doing NOTHING to fix the systematic issues that place these women in poverty to begin with. In her piece, Silliman includes that about 23% of African American women and 42% of Latina women don’t have access to adequate health care, compared to the 13% of white women, thus leaving these women stuck between choosing reproduction or health benefits, food stamps, etc.

            As mentioned in the reading, even when these women were given access to contraceptives such as the Depo-Provera, a shot containing progestin, the contraceptive was not tested on any women of color prior to the administration, which is EXTREMELY PROBLEMATIC! The health of these women are once again put at risk, and more likely than not, these women don’t have the health care or resources to go talk to a doctor for a follow-up appointment. Once again, this just shows that “choice” for women of color extends way further than simply an individual’s decision to terminate a pregnancy…

            After our class discussion on Tuesday, I wanted to uncover some cases of black women forced into unwanted sterilization. The article I found on NBC’s website (http://rockcenter.nbcnews.com/_news/2011/11/07/8640744-victims-speak-out-about-north-carolina-sterilization-program-which-targeted-women-young-girls-and-blacks) describes the story of Elaine Riddick, who was only thirteen the time of her sterilization. In 1967, Elaine’s neighbor raped her in the town of Winfall, North Carolina. After she gave birth to her baby, the state ordered an immediate sterilization. Like many women of color in these situations, Elaine was unaware that the doctor was cutting/ tying her fallopian tubes, leaving her unable to bear children if she chooses later in life. Up to five doctors were aware of this procedure, with each of them labeling (and wrongfully stereotyping) Elaine as “promiscuous” and “feebleminded”. This is not surprising, considering the negative ideals of Elaine were commonly shared with the thousands of other women who were worked on in this time. Also in this article, the author includes that “of those who were sterilized, 85% of the victims were female and 40% were non-white”, reminding the readers that government institutions utilized sterilization wrongfully to promote the theory of Eugenics. This article does an excellent job of providing a real example of how Eugenics and population control have been utilized to prevent women of color from reproducing, thus denying them of their reproductive freedom that extends way further than white women’s agenda surrounding “choice”.

Question: How often do you see women of color being unknowingly sterilized in 2018? Better yet, how many women who are being sterilized won’t come out to the public about it due to the fear that the government will revoke public aid they received?