why did they sterilize puerto rican women?
Iâm really sorry it took me so long to answer this. I am sure latinegrasexologistâ would be able to answer this question much better than I can. Please fact check me as this is an important bit of information and I donât want to be mistaken in my efforts.However, since you asked me Iâll give it a shot. The Forced Sterilization program in Puerto Rico was based on Eugenics, with the USâs desire to control the population. Many USians believed population growth in Puerto Rico would be a burden on the economy of their colony. Indeed Unemployment in Puerto Rico was high. According to the Chicago Womenâs Liberation Union, a hidden and altered report entitled âOpportunities for Employment, Education and Trainingâ the biggest economic problem in Puerto Rico (the report is dated 1972) is unemployment. You should check out what CWLU has written on the matter (x).Â
Importantly though, many clinics and organizations developed in Puerto Rico that preformed sterilizations on men and women including the John D. Rockefeller funded Family Planning Association of Puerto Rico in 1954. So governmental incentives to provide âfamily planningâ methods to Puerto Rico were set up and many of them doctors who worked in these organizations coerced forced these women into becoming sterile. Some have been known to promote sterilization instead of other methods of birth control because of racist classist and hypersexualized ideas that Puerto Ricans would not be able to use other forms because they were essentially not smart enough and too sexual. Oftentimes though, the women wouldnât even know that they were getting sterilized when they wanted to get their âtubes tied.âÂ
A lot of this was supported by Puerto Ricans officials, at the expense of poor Puerto Ricans. But this was definitely funded and performed by USians and US trained physicians. Many independentistas use this horrifying violation of human rights to justify their views on separating from the US. Since I donât live on the Island and definitely enjoy many privileges being a diasporic Puerto Rican it is not necessarily my place to dictate what is best for the Island. However I do agree that a country should reconsider whether or not they should continue aligning themselves with a nation so insistent on devaluing its peopleâŚÂ
also latinegrasexologist has written extensively on the family planning experiments by pharmaceutical companies and the link between the birth control pill and femicide in Puerto Rico. (Basically Bianca is amazing)
If you want to learn more about sterilization in Puerto Rico  I would suggest looking at the extensive list of works on this really cool annotated bibliography on the sterilization of Puerto Rican Women I found by Florita Z. Louis de Malave. (x)Â
also check out Roie Perezâ film ¥Yo Soy Boricua Paâque tu lo sepas!Â
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