Excuse me if I do not partake in all of the celebration of The 50th Anniversary of The Pill because from my perspective it is still very much a reminder of the exploitation and violation of human rights among Puerto Ricans (and Haitians, and working class women in general) that continues today. Ignoring this reality is easy. Yet, it is a part of my, our history that I can’t simply forget or overlook. If I choose to ignore this history I also choose to ignore the history of activism by members of my community that has helped to create change at an institutional level. Ignoring this reality and history also perpetuates the ideas that historically oppressed communities are not important in the work we do today. There are some things I’m not ready to ignore or forge and many of those are the power of language. The adjectives used to describe members of my community are horrifying. I don’t care if it was how people spoke “in that time,” they were and remain inappropriate. To describe our homeland as “slums,” “jungles,” and our community as “undesirable,” “genetically inferior,” and “ignorant” is defendable? The ideology “that the poor, uneducated, women of Puerto Rico could follow the Pill regimen, then women anywhere in the world could too” is not condescending to you? Don’t be fooled. There was almost nothing that was “female controlled” or “empowering” about being a part of the trial for many participants, especially after they realized they were taking a medication that they did not know was not approved.
The fact that it is SO DIFFICULT to access many of the longer-term reproductive technologies (surgery, IUDs, implants, etc) is definitely another thing that needs to be addressed. That people have to pass some sort of appropriate-fertility/age/monogamy/general morality test to access these (in addition to the initial expense of these, which is not always covered by health insurance) is ridiculous. Its not doctor’s business (or, you know, pharmacist’s) job to decide how you should manage your fertility if its not something that actually damages your health.
I mean, really, I think its a net-positive when people are allowed to limit or exercise their fertility as they wish without being held to certain age/class standards. If there are situations that make childbearing/not childbearing more difficult it is really not the contraception or lack thereof that is the problem, its larger structural problems.
Established in 1997, Project Prevention has so far worked with 3,371 addicts in the U.S. Of those, 1,253 have opted for tubal ligations or vasectomies. After getting in touch with the organization by calling its toll free hotline (888-30-CRACK), prospective participants must mail in arrest records or official letters from social workers to confirm they have drug problems. Those opting for IUDs or surgical implants receive $100 when the device is inserted and $100 more six months and a year later if the device is still in use. Harris depends on donations to keep the operation going, and word-of-mouth among addicts to find clients. But she also advertises her program by driving around the U.S. in a 30-foot motor home plastered with photos of a dead infant, a razor blade, a line of crack and a pacifier, along with the message: “Some things just don’t belong together.”
I remember reading about this same organization (back when it was C.R.A.C.K.) in the lack 1990s (in “Active Transformation,” the detroit-lansing anarchist newspaper that radicalized me, natch) and I am only semi-surprised to hear that they are still around and kicking 10+ years later. Oh, except, you know apparently one of Ryan’s friends is excited about its work on facebook now.
I am probably taking for granted that it is obvious whats wrong with this organization. In my opinion, if they really want to help women with drug addiction and children (and presumably no supportive partner/family?) they should put this money into funding non-state childcare so that these women can go to recovery and not have to spend months in court getting their kids back after. And if they want long-term contraception, it would probably be beneficial to work at getting that paid for at already-established women’s clinics.
Or, you know, address the serious drug and class warfare problem that this country has.
Q17. Who should not have an IUD inserted?
Women who have the following conditions:
* Currently pregnant
* Infection after childbirth or abortion
* Unexplained vaginal bleeding
* Cervical, endometrial, or ovarian cancer
* Current PID or STI (purulent cervicitis)
* Distorted uterine cavity (incompatible with IUD insertion)
* Malignant gestational trophoblastic disease (rare)
* Known pelvic tuberculosis (rare)
— Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about IUDs
If this (sponsored by USAID) website says these are the only exclusionary criteria, why is it so incredibly hard to get one (anywhere that i have been) in the u.s.? after all, this list does seem perfectly reasonable in comparison to the exclusionary criteria i have heard. ex: being nulliparous, not being married, being generally young and irresponsible.
The organization pays women who are drug addicts or alcoholics a one time amount of $300 to get permanent birth control. [via
I was hoping this was going to be about C.R.A.C.K. but I guess we are still pushing forward on this great and totally non racist/misogynist/classist/otherwise discriminatory plan.
Also, Plan B is ‘the abortion pill’ but sterilization is just ‘permanent birth control’? Nice word choice.
Here’s the thing: If you’re old enough to be having sex, you’re old enough to be using Plan B. Clinical trials have shown that it’s actually extremely safe, and there are absolutely no health reasons for restricting it to women 17 and older, or 18 and older. There simply aren’t. There are only political reasons and moral reasons.
And those moral reasons aren’t coherent. Because if a 15-year-old woman is freely consenting to sex, and there is some kind of mishap that leads her to need plan B, she should be able to get it. And if a 15-year-old isn’t freely consenting to sex, but a man is raping her, then she needs plan B even more. Why does the government think that possibly being saddled with a pregnancy will make men stop raping women? It hasn’t worked before. Men still find ways to rape women, even when the threat of pregnancy is there. Men still found ways to rape women before there was birth control.
— Plan Be
“Divine Mercy Care Pharmacy is among at least seven pharmacies across the nation that are refusing as a matter of faith to sell contraceptives of any kind, even if a person has a prescription.” [via]
![BIRTH CONTROL IS SINFUL IN THE CHRISTIAN MARRIAGES and also ROBBING GOD OF PRIESTHOOD CHILDREN!! (Paperback) [via]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/8yNvyqSyin8xl9jcY7PhS2jzo1_400.jpg)
anthropophagous
Archive Audio Images RSS FeedThis is just a collection of things I think are neat.
A general overview of 'things I think are neat':abandonment/the post-industrial midwest, anarchism (syndicalism, insurrectionalism, etc), race/ethnicity (esp. defining/constructing the boundaries of whiteness), gender, class (talking/thinking about class generally seems to be an underrated activity), health care (access to, the experience of obtaining, etc), art, science fiction, punk music, conservative talk radio and anthropology (which probably incorporates almost everything else about people).
