{"id":1585,"date":"2017-09-29T07:00:24","date_gmt":"2017-09-29T12:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/?p=1585"},"modified":"2017-09-25T13:29:27","modified_gmt":"2017-09-25T18:29:27","slug":"race-and-reproductive-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/2017\/09\/29\/race-and-reproductive-control\/","title":{"rendered":"Race and Reproductive Control"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Frank de Kleine, Flickr CC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Several abortion providers have come under intense criticism for offering <\/span>free abortions to women affected by Hurricane Harvey<\/span><\/a>. While this criticism echoes decades of social and political debates regarding women\u2019s reproductive rights, the control over women\u2019s bodies extends far beyond the second-wave feminist movement during the mid-20th century. For example, recent calls for the <\/span>removal of a statue honoring J. Marion Sims,<\/span><\/a> a doctor known for medical contributions to the field of gynecology and who performed experimental surgeries on non-consenting enslaved black women without anesthesia, illustrate the historical links between reproductive control, gender, and race. Sociologists allow us to trace the long history of controlling black women\u2019s reproduction. <\/span><\/p>\n

While historical accounts of reproductive rights rhetoric in the 19th century point to the gendered issue of men\u2019s control over women\u2019s bodies and the valorization of traditional motherhood, they neglect how political rhetoric also drew on ideas of white superiority. As more immigrants migrated to the U.S., Anglo-Saxon political elites worried that greater migrant representation would quickly dismantle their political power, and so American physicians encouraged Anglo-Saxon women to bear children for the sake of continued political power among whites. <\/span><\/h5>\n