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Latina’s Forced Sterilization: The Process to Stop 1 Running head: LATINA’S FORCED STERILIZATION

Latina’s Forced Sterilization: The Process to Stop Biomedical Violence Janitsha Herrera The University of Texas at Arlington

In partial fulfillment of the requirements of WOMS 3302-002 Introduction to Latina/Hispanic Feminism Professor Alicia Garza December 11, 2019

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This essay will be a analysis of the biomedical violence inflicted on Latina women of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent. Puerto Rico being a territory of the United States was said to go on a low unemployment rate and the country was over populated, Eugenics used this situation to say that women were having too many children making it a burden to the U.S economy and society. They tested new birth control and forced sterilization on young Puertoricasn to stop the “over population”. This essay goes in depth with the decades worth of forced sterilization inflicted on unknowing women of Latino decent in the early 1930s Puerto Rico and in the 1970s California. Exploring the reasons of the bio power men who inflicted biomedical violence on Latinas. Also going into the Madrigal v Quilligan case that reached Chicana movement activist.

Key Words: Madrigal v Quilligan, biomedical violence, sterilization, Chicana Movement, eugenics

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Latina’s Forced Sterilization: The Process to stop Biomedical Violent Forced sterilization in the early 1900 may have been one of the only forms of contraceptive but as time progressed there was an increase in the number of people living on the United States Territory of Puerto Rico causing a great concern to scholars. The government notice that by “1937 unemployment reached 37% in Puerto Rico so the 136 law was passed for the legalization of sterilization influenced by eugenics. (Latin American Film Project 1982). The law allowed women of any age to get sterilized but the reasons for such reform was to stop young women from having children because there was a preconceived idea that the over population of the territory was due to poor women of latinx descent having too many children. The government justified the sterilization of women by “having too many people that need” (Fuentes & Gutierrez, 2009, pg. 89) housing, working conditions, living wages, public education and medical assistance so it was best if the population decreased. Another reason sterilization was justified was due to the economic and social failures of the country since women contributed to this idea of “over population” making them act and challenge the civil Right of reproductive self-determination (Fuentes & Gutierrez, 2009). Eugenics affected Puerto Rican women’s reproductive plans insinuating Latinx’s were not “fit” to procreate and therefore must be hindered from having “unfit” children. The same researched ideology of eugenics was later used to forcibly sterilize women of Mexican origin. Eugenics originated from the 1920s, with the eugenicists called Goethe, Jordan, and Holmes. Many had the ideology that Mexicans crossed the borders to breed and take advantage of resources. Goethe himself wrote “[“It is this high birthrate that makes Mexican peon immigration such a menace. Peons multiply like rabbits.”] In editorials, pamphlets, and personal correspondence, prominent eugenicists foregrounded the “Mexican problem” as a danger to the

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state’s public and fiscal health.” (Stern,2015, 1135). The defense for the forced sterilization centered in racial and stereotypical ideologies such as they “multiply like rabbits”, this also shows how there men thought of Latina women as animals and called these “animals” a problem as if killing them off would be the best option. In the short film La Operacion from the Latina American Film Project stare with a Puerto Rican women expressiong how she and all her sisters were sterilized at a young age therefore they will never be able to have children and the “familia se acavara” meaning her family will die out after her generation. The white elite men with biopower preyed the defenseless Latina women with biomedical violence. Not only where they often sterilized without consent but Puerto Rican women had family planning clinics where they “were used to test birth control pills and the Depo Provera contraceptive shot, in addition to contraceptive foam and the intrauterine device, in unethical and sometimes dangerous clinical trials, often without their knowledge or consent.”( Fuentes & Gutierrez, 2009, pg. 87). These women had their reproductive rights taken but also where used as guinea pigs without their knowledge they suffered side effects that they did not know was because of the trial medication they were given for birth control. They were seen as lesser than that of a white woman. The most outrageous thing is that the government made the sterilization easily accessible by making it legal and funding the procedures. The employers of Puerto Rico also made it mandatory that women be sterilized in order to be offered the job and some employers allowed women to leave for a few hours to make the sterilization appointment. It was in their best interest that their workers do not get pregnant since they would lose money in the maternity leave and medical attention along with many other natural inconveniences against the work environment that come with pregnancy. (Fuentes & Gutierrez, 2009). During this time

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Medicaid was said to fund the procedure almost completely. Along with the federal funding of the Family planning services and population Research act of the 1970s. In some cases, women endured unequal treatment in California hospitals which exposed the forced sterilization of Latina women and put them in trial. In Madrigal V. Gilligan women had no idea they had been sterilized, told they have their tubes tided not cut and sown as they were. Testimonies of women expressing their plans of getting pregnant again after a few years were stopped and informed that he procedure they had would not allow them to ever have children again. Most women were told to sign consent when they were in the pains of labor or after given heavy medication that clouded their judgment. Instances of being slapped and mistreated for crying during labor and told their pain is their fault for having sex. Doctors went as far as telling the women they would be deported if they did not sign or that it was medically necessary for the women to get sterilized, when in fact it was not. Women were not notified of taught any other possible treatment for birth control other than sterilization when there was birth control pills and other means. Latina’s treatment from medical staff went as far as being told that their children were of nuisance to society and the state because they could not afford the children in the United States. Nurses would refuse to give pain medications without sterilization consent, and some women were not educated about the procedure thinking they could untie their tubes when they want to (GutiLrrez, 2008). The forced sterilization was exposed when a resident doctor in training brought evidence to the organization about the unjust treatment of Latina mothers from being himself told and encouraged to do as many sterilization procedure as possible. The president of the Comision organization, Gloria Molinda, was one of the advocates in peruse to stop the biomedical violence against women. Gloria made it her mission to obtain and gather as many plaintiffs’ affidavits for

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the case. She was the voice for the women who did not have the language to express themselves. The verdict of the Madrigal v. Quilligan ruled in favor of the defendants stating their was no intended harm from any of the 12 doctors, LACMC, California counties, U.S department of health, and education welfare. Molina used her knowledge of the case to educate the communities, organization and government to prevent the unjust sterilization of Latina women. (Madrigal v. Quilligan, 2006). One of the main points of the plaintiffs in the trial was when a medical student “Benker related an entrenched system of forced sterilization based on stereotypes of Mexicans as hyperbreeders and Mexican women as welfare mothers in waiting ” (Stern 2015, 1135). Stereotyping all women of Latino decent as free riders and opportunist. When in fact the women in the Madrigal v. Quilligan case were not in welfare of any sort. This goes to show how men in power treat women in the medial system thinking they are doing a service to the world. Dr. E.J. Quilligan, the head of County Hospital's obstetrics unit, testifined in the Madrigal v. Quilligan case claiming “poor minority women in Los Angeles County “were having too many babies,” that this was placing a “strain on society,” and that it was “socially desirable” that the women be sterilized.” ( GutiLrrez 2008, 46 ). Meaning he whole heartedly believe that sterilizing Latina women against their will was what society wanted and needed therefore he was doing what he can to fulfill societies needs. In the case of PuertoRican women the Mayor of Barceloneta Puerto Rico from 1956 to 1976 stated “the female sterilization program had positive results, the proof was the 1970s census, the local population had not increased.” (Latin American Film Project 1982). In the case of both men they used statistics and Eugenics to cast out the poor Latina women and prevent them from having children they believed were a burden in society. The problem is they believed and did what “science” and facts told them and didn’t think of how

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this would affect women’s lives. We often believe science as facts instead of questioning how their actions will affect the victims, they thought they benefit society. The women in the case and Puerto Rican women used as Guinea pigs never received any compensation whatsoever for their suffering not even a trial; the Madrigal v Quilligan case had no compensation for the victims. It made an impact in the medical field and the way they process sterilization procedures. Now when one has major surgery the hospital makes the documents for consent in the main language of the patient to ensure the patient is consciously able to accept or decline the procedure. A women who is younger than twenty one is given 72 hours to think about the decision. If the patient was in need of welfare of government help the benefits are not going to affect the status of the welfare if the patient is or is not sterilized. And finally, the most important the Latina women must be informed of the civil rights they have in choosing whether or not to get sterilization. “The family planning” in these communities are told to allow and inform all the patients about different types of birth control (Madrigal vs Quilligan, 2006). The question is now how does bio power and biomedical power affect Women now? The problem is many Latina women are not treated the same in medical setting making it hard for them to trust in the health care system. According to Fuentes and Gutierrez, “Many Latinos(as) report receiving lower quality care (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality 2006) and experience worse health outcomes compared to their white counterparts” ( Fuentes & Gutierrez 2009, 96). Most of the times it can due to the language barrier but the stereotypes and preconceived idea of the health care providers still affect their judgment when in comes to Latinas health concerns. Many times women are regarded in the sense of what the racial fabric is instead of the health concerns they may have. In terms of Madrigal v Gilligan and all the women

LATINA’S FORCED STERILIZATION who where affected by the decisions of the men in power the women’s civil right to make their own reproductive decisions are still part of the United states legal system when it comes to reproductive issues.

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Fuentes, L., & Gutierrez, E. R. (2009). Population Control by Sterilization: The Cases of Puerto Rican and Mexican-Origin Women in the United States. Latino(a) Research Review, 7(3), 85–98. GutiLrrez, E. R. (2008). Fertile Matters : The Politics of Mexican-origin Women’s Reproduction (Vol. 1st ed). Austin: University of Texas Press. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohostcom.ezproxy.uta.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=223817&site=ehost-live Latin American Film Project. (1982). La Operacion. Retrieved from https://uta.instructure.com/courses/42085/pages/week-10-media-resources? module_item_id=1573065v Madrigal v. Quilligan. (2006). In V. L. Ruiz & V. S. Korrol (Eds.), Latinas in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia (Vol. 2, pp. 416-419). Indiana University Press. Retrieved from https://link-gale-com.ezproxy.uta.edu/apps/doc/CX2831800310/GVRL? u=txshracd2597&sid=GVRL&xid=44a16ec2 Stern, A. M. (2015). Sterilized in the Name of Public Health . American Journal of Public Health , 95(7), 1128–1138....