Puerto Rican Genocide Attempt

It wasn’t until I was a full-fledged adult in college that I learned the history of the mass sterilization of women in Puerto Rico and to some extent in poorer areas of NYC committed by the US.

I couldn’t believe that no one was outraged or even spoke of it. It continues to bother me that it is not a well known matter either.

So here is some information about a great injustice, Literanista is just passing on.

A great documentary to rent about the whole topic:

LA OPERACION (The Operation) Directed by Ana Maria Garcia
1982

Puerto Rico has the highest incidence of female sterilization in the world. Over one-third of all Puerto Rican women of childbearing age have been sterilized. So common is the operation that it is simply known as ‘la operacion.’ Using newsreels and excerpts from government propaganda films, plus interviews with Puerto Rican women, doctors, birth control specialists and politicians, this film explores the controversial use of sterilization as a means of population control.
Directed by Ana Maria Garcia

Great background info: Organizing for Change – Sterilization Abuse
http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/book/companion.asp?id=32&compID=55

Book:
Women of Color and the Reproductive Rights Movement by Jennifer Nelson
http://www.amazon.com/Women-Color-Reproductive-Rights-Movement/dp/0814758274/sr=8-1/qid=1161362718/ref=sr_1_1/104-9434033-8073513?ie=UTF8&s=books

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