Prize Year
2023
Document Type
Unrestricted
Abstract
Feminist conversation in the United States, some may argue, oftentimes excludes the experiences of women of color. The term intersectionality—the idea that social categorizations overlap and result in particular experiences is fundamental when considering these women. As a result, the unique abuses that women of color face are often overlooked; Mexican origin women being one of these affected groups. Around the mid and late twentieth century, many Mexican origin women underwent coerced sterilizations in Los Angeles, California. This paper performs an analysis on California’s history of eugenic beliefs, sterilization laws, and the court case Madrigal v Quilligan, a case including ten women who underwent coerced sterilizations in Los Angeles Country Medical Hospital, in order to understand the unique experience of Mexican origin women in the United Sates in relation to their reproductive rights and the marginalization of them.
Recommended Citation
Almazan, Rosy, "Coerced Sterilization of Mexican Origin Women: The Marginalization of Their Rights" (2023). Dean James E. McLeod Freshman Writing Prize. 19.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/mcleod/19