Eugenics Devils of the early 20th Century: Birth Control
GUEST ESSAY: How the Right to Birth Control Could Be Undone May 23, 2022
(nytimes.org Uncredited/AP birth-control-abortion-roe-v-wade.html)
Written By: Abinaya Sridharan
"We thank the invention of birth control that helped many women around the world. However, with every creation, there is a twisted history lurking in its shadow. Let’s talk about Margaret Sanger — eugenics devil or feminist icon?
Contraceptive trials in Puerto Rico
Marget Sanger was a birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. She believed that birth control was necessary for women to gain the freedom of controlling their bodies. However, much of her views on birth control raised red flags amongst modern historians. A long-lasting theory suggests that Marget believed non-white women should stop procreating. This idea is also known as Eugenics, “a theory that ‘undesirable’ populations could be reduced or eliminated by controlling their breeding”[1]. In her eyes, undesirable traits are mental and physical defects. Sanger detested birth control as the greatest weapon to eliminate what she called “the greatest present menace to civilization”--- people who live in poverty or have mental and physical disabilities. With her ideas, she went to Gregory Pincus, a controversial scientist who specializes in mammal reproduction. Sanger proposed her idea of creating cheap birth control pills, and Pincus obliged. This led to the start of what would become one of the 20th century’s most risky and unethical science experiments.
Hard Times
In the 1950s it was strongly enforced by state laws that distributing or researching birth control was illegal. This was also the case in the state of Massachusetts, where Pincus began his work along with John Rock, an obstetrician. They began their work in secret to figure out if the hormone progesterone (a hormone that is produced when a woman is pregnant) could prevent pregnancy in women. When using this hormone in rats and rabbits, it prevented pregnancy, but raised one critical question: “Could this work in women too”?
Puerto Rico Women As Guinea Pigs
Well, the only way to know is if we try, and in the eyes of Pincus and Rock, Puerto Rico was the ideal place to start. Why Puerto Rico? Well for starters, Puerto Rico is in poverty. Most women in poverty have a lack of education, which can make them gullible. The women in Puerto Rico were not aware of the fact that they were tested as guinea pigs for a clinical trial. Some took the pill willingly, while others were pressured by politics. The pill had a higher dose of hormones than the modern-day birth control pills we use today. Its side effects included blood clots, depression, and to a greater extent, death. There were even reports of three women dying during the clinical trials, but no autopsies were conducted, and it was not clear whether or not these three fatalities were linked to the pill. Regardless of these deaths, Pincus continued his inhumane experiments; he only cared about the pill’s efficiency. Even though their pill proved 100% efficient, Pincus and Rock conducted another trial, in which they tested the pills on women and men in asylums, without their consent. As a result, a third of Puerto Rico’s women were sterilized.
Some argue that they did the right thing by sterilizing the women in Puerto Rico, because of the employment rate “increasing” and the poverty rate “decreasing” as a result. However, Puerto Rico still has a huge unemployment rate and it's still in poverty. In fact, 43% of its population are living below the poverty line.
Irony.
“For decades, Puerto Rican women had been subjected to sterilizations at various points as a way to combat unemployment and poverty on the island.”(npr.org) The irony of how many refugees from Puerto Rico and Mexico come to America in hopes of better opportunities in return Amercians sterilize Puerto Rico. Not to mention the promiscuous stigma against Latin women, revealing the sterilization of Puerto Ricans not only affected women in the island but also proving to have intergenerational trauma of their forecomers subjugated by white supremacy and its stigma against Latianas.
While many women were suffering, most of them never spoke out, because of the backlash they may have received. Most of the trials were held between the 1930s-1950s. As you may know, the early 20th century was quite a conservative time. And on top of that, most of Puerto Rico follows Catholicism. Talking about sex, sterilization, or pregnancy were all taboo subjects. Getting an abortion was seen as a forever “sin.” However, getting birth control or being sterilized could be seen as a “one-time offense to god” from their perspective. Due to this, many women did not speak up in fear of being ostracized.
(Note: I’m not saying that Catholicism promotes anti women's healthcare. This is only what has been reported. Know that this article holds no harmful bias to religion, sex, or race.)
All Hail Marget Sanger, a Feminist Icon disguised as a Devil
Although Pincus and Rock did help in the invention of birth control pills, Margaret Sanger is seen as the catalyst for the creation of it. She is noted as a Feminist icon, but let's not overlook her twisted beliefs. Not only was she the reason for unethical practices on Puerto Rico’s women but she also started the Negro project (sterilization of black women) and supports the Klu Klux Klan. Her vision of “fit” members of society is white, mentally and physically capable individuals, and it's constantly shown in her actions. Her goal is to remove anyone that doesn't fit her vision like weeds in her flawless garden.
Modern Day Birth Control Pill
Modern day birth control pills still hold serious side effects. Scientists are now taking the traumatic mental side effects in women who take birth control more seriously. “In a way, we do have women being treated like lab animals so that we may find a form of birth control that frees them,” said Jonathan Eig, author of The Birth of the Pill, in 2015.” [1].
References:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3348414
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/URLs_Cited/OT2018/18-483/18-483-2.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPY_Bsxvjqg&t=236s
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pill-puerto-rico-pill-trials/
