145442 Poor women, poor choices: Dilemma of civil rights and reproductive health in the 1970s

Monday, November 5, 2007: 11:05 AM

Gregory Dorr, PhD , Center for the Study of Diversity in Science, Technology, and Medicine, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, MA
     
In 1973, social workers in Montgomery, Alabama persuaded Minnie Relf, an illiterate African-American mother, to make her mark on a form. Believing she was authorizing “shots” for her daughters, Mrs. Relf was shocked when doctors sterilized her two youngest daughters, ages 14 and 12. The Southern Poverty Law Center helped the Relfs to file a federal lawsuit. Suddenly, women across the country complained that they, too, had been sterilized without informed consent. As sinister links to the Nixon Administration's population policy emerged, the Relf case spurred changes in federal health policy, ironically reducing poor women's access to sterilization, then and today the favored form of birth control.

Learning Objectives:
The purpose is to provide historical analysis to remind of us past abuses and inform current work about reproductive rights. Organized by Alexandra M. Stern (who has previously presented on this topic in the Spirit of 1848 history session), the session will be introduced by Anne-Emanuelle Birn, from the Spirit of 1848 social history subcommittee, and will include presentations by: (1) Dr. Gregory Dorr, on “Poor Women, Poor Choices: The Dilemma of Civil Rights and Reproductive Health in the 1970s” (focusing on the 1973 Relf case, about the wrongful sterilization of two African American teenagers in Alabama), (2) Dr. Paul Lombardo, on “Looking Back at Buck v. Bell” (the 1927 Supreme Court decision that allowed states to perform mandatory sexual sterilization of persons who were mentally retarded, epileptic, or otherwise judged “socially inadequate”), and (3) Dr. Elena Gutierrez, who as discussant will reflect on both the presented papers and the more recent US histories of policing reproduction, especially among women of color. Two Spirit of 1848 members, Emily Galpern and Birgit Remier, will work together with Alexandra Stern and the panelists to create a resource guide (listing books, articles, and websites) for current organizing around reproductive rights.

Keywords: Reproductive Health, African American

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Policing Reproduction: Lessons and Legacies of Eugenic Sterilization
See more of: Spirit of 1848 Caucus