Matters of Choice: Puerto Rican Women's Struggle for Reproductive Freedom

by Iris Lopez

Overview

Sterilization remains one of the most popular forms of fertility control in the world, but it has received little acknowledgment for decreasing birthrates on account of its dubious use as a means of population control, especially in developing countries.

In Matters of Choice, Iris Lopez presents a comprehensive analysis of the dichotomous views that have portrayed sterilization either as part of a coercive program of population control or as a means of voluntary, even liberating, fertility control by individual women. Drawing upon her twenty-five years of research on sterilized Puerto Rican women from five different families in Brooklyn, Lopez untangles the interplay between how women make fertility decisions and their social, economic, cultural, and historical constraints. Weaving together the voices of these women, she covers the history of sterilization and eugenics, societal pressures to have fewer children, a lack of adequate health care, patterns of gender inequality, and misinformation provided by doctors and family members.

Lopez makes a stirring case for a model of reproductive freedom, taking readers beyond victim/agent debates to consider a broader definition of reproductive rights within a feminist anthropological context.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813543734
Publisher:	Rutgers University Press
Publication date:	12/10/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Iris Lopez is the director of the Latin American and Caribbean studies program and an associate professor in the department of sociology at the City College of New York. She is coauthor of Telling to Live: Latina Feminist Testimonios.

Table of Contents

The globalization of sterilization
The birth control movement in Puerto Rico
Gender awareness across generations
Cultural continuities and urban change
The Velez family: poverty, the cancer scare, and hysterectomies
The Robles family: social change and gender struggle
The Gomez family: under the knife again-reversing la operación
The Morales and Rivera families: tough love and sterile choices
Reproductive rights and an integral model of reproductive freedom
Ideologies and inequities in the health care system
Toward an integral model of reproductive freedom

Editorial Reviews

"Lopez's work fills a tremendous void in the social science literature about Puerto Rican women's lives and fertility. One of the more impressive aspects of this work is the depth of the ethnographic interviews: each woman's voice rings loud and clear. Matters of Choice should be standard reading for students of the Puerto Rican and Latina condition, and not just female students but all students."

Centro: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies

In this unique and compelling book, Iris Lopez not only encourages a rethinking of reproductive models but features women's own voices and life experiences. I recommend Matters of Choice to anyone interested in learning more about how the national, class and racist legacies of reproductive policies influence the lives of women today.

Researcher, Social Science Research Center, University of Puerto Rico - Dr. Alice Col=n Warren

"Lopez presents an integrated model that moves beyond the binary of choice and constraint to locate the experiences of Puerto Rican women in a continuum....The integrated model provides an opportunity to better understand how personal, cultural, social, and historical factors operate and inform reproductive decisions. Highly recommended."

Choice

"Lopez's work fills a tremendous void in the social science literature about Puerto Rican women's lives and fertility. One of the more impressive aspects of this work is the depth of the ethnographic interviews: each woman's voice rings loud and clear. Matters of Choice should be standard reading for students of the Puerto Rican and Latina condition, and not just female students but all students."

From the Publisher

Unlike previous work on women's reproductive control, Lopez offers a more nuanced and complex understanding as to why [sterilization] has been so popular among Puetro Riquenas. It is written in an engaging, clear, and accessible manner...essential reading for those interested in the social construction of the body, reproduction, and Latina women's experiences.

Feminist Formations (Formerly NWSA Journal)

"In Matters of Choice, Iris Lopez presents a nuanced analysis of the
multiple forces that lead to high sterilization rates of Puerto Rican
women. Using their voices, Lopez illuminates women's reproductive
agency, pushing us to think more deeply about the meaning of la
operación.

professor of Latin American and Latino Studies, University of California, Santa - Patricia Zavella

"Matters of Choice is that rare work of scholarship whose ideas and rich findings are central to the literatures on social movements and gender studies. Lopez explodes the usual binary of victim vs. free agent and helps us to imagine what real reproductive justice might look like"

Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Hunter College - Rosalind Petchesky

"A heart-wrenching look at US domination over working-class Puerto Rican women that has been largely unexplored until now."

author of The Diaspora Strikes Back - Juan Flores