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Angela Davis: Racism, Birth Control, and Reproductive Rights

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Angela Davis: Racism, Birth Control, and Reproductive Rights 4.1 .RACISM.BIRTH CONTROL AND REPRODUCTIVERIGHTS' AngelaDavis \\ lren nineteenth-centuryfeminists raised the dcmand for 'voluntary mother- lr,,ocl'.the c:rrnpaignfor birth control was born. Its plrponents rverec:rlled rad r,.rlsand they rveresubjectcd to the srlnrenrockerl rrshad hcf.rllrnthc initiel .r(lv()catesof woman suffr:rge.'Vrluntarv motherhood'was consideredauda- , r( outrageousand outlandishb,v those rvho insistcd wives h:rtino right 'us, that r,I r'efuscto satisfytheir husbands'sexua I urges.Eventualll, of course,the right r,, birth control, like worren's right to vote, would be more or lesstaken tor lr.rrted by US public opinion. Yct in 1970, a fulJccntury later,the call for legal .,rrdeasily accessible abortiorrs *'as no lesscontroversial th:rn the issueof'vol ,,,rt.rrymotherhood' u,hicbhad originally launchedthe birth control movemcnt rrrthe United States. llirth control - individual choice, safc contraceptivemethods, as well as ,l,ortionswhcn necessary- is a fundamentalprerequisite for the em.rncrpao,,rr , 'i rvomen.Since the right of birth control is obviously advantageousto women ,'i lll classesand races,it would appe:rrthat even vastly dissimilar women's : r,lrps rvould haveattemptcd fo unitr around this issue.In rcality,however, the 'r th control tnovement has seldom succeedcdin uniting women of diffcrerrt .,,ciaJtrackgrounds, and rarelv have the movement'sleaders popularized thc ,,'rrtrineconccrns of rvorking classwomen. Moreover, argLrmentsadvanced I'r birth control advocateshavc sorretirres bccn bascd on blatantlv racist ,,,r: Angela D.tvis {1981), 'R:cisrr, Birth (lntrol end Rcproducti!e R,ghts, pt. 102-71. in la I)avis, \Yamcn, Rarcantl (l.ondor: lhe Women\ Prcss,Ne$ )i)rk, Rsndom Housr. 'rIr Class 353 ANGELADAV]s premises.The progressiveporcntial of birth control rerrains indisputable.Bur in actuirlit,v.the historicalrecord of this rrovement leavesmuch to be desiredin the realm of challcngesto racism and classcxploitation. Thc most inportant vjctory of the contcmporary irirth controi rlovcnent rvas won during the earlv 1970s rvhen abortions \vere ar lesr declaredlegal. Having energed during the infancyof the new Wirmen'sLiberation nrovemenrr the struggleto legalizeabortior.rs incorporated.lll rhe enthusi:lsmand the mili tirncy ol tlre young ntovcmenr.Bv Januarl', 1973,the abortion rights camp.rrgn had reacfrecl:r triunlph.nt culmination. In Roc r,. \Yade (410 US) and Doe r,r. Bolton (410 US),the US SupremeCourt ruled that a woman's right to personal privacy implied her right to decidewhether or nor ro have an ahorrron. The ranks of the abortion rights campaign did not include subst:rntial numbers of womcn of color. (liven the racial conrpositiou of the largcr V(rmen's Liberatior movcment,this was not at all surprising.\(hen quesrions wcrc raisedabout the abscnceof racially oppressedwomen In both thc larger move[lent and in the abortion rights cantpaign,two explanationslvere c(]m- nronly proposedin the discussionsand literatureof the period: women of coJor rvereoverburdened by their people'sfight irgainstr:rcism; and/or they had not yet bccomeconscious of rhc centraliry of sexism.But the real rneaningof the almost lilv rvhite complexion of tlre abortion rights campaign vvasnor ro be lound in an ostensiblymyopic or underdevelopedconsciousness amorg women of color The truth lay buried in the ideological undcrpinnings of the birth colltr(Jlnro\.elnent itself. The failure of the abortion rights campaign to conduct a historical self evaluation led to a dargcrously strpcrficialappraisal of Black people'ssuspi- cious attitudes torn'ardbirth control in gcneral. (irantecl, rvhen sorne lJlack people unhesitatinglvequated birth control with genocide,it <lidappear to bc an exaggerated- even paranoiac- reaction.Yer white abortion rights activists misseda profound message,for underlvingrhese cries of genocidewerr irnpor- tant cluesabout the history of the birth control movemerr. This movenlenr,for exanrple,had beenknown to ddvocareinvoluntary I sterilization- a racist fbrm of mass'birth control'. If everwomen rl'ould enjoy the right to plnn their preg- nancics,legal and easilyaccessible birth control rneasuresand:rbortrons would haveto be complementedby an end to sterilization.rbuse. As for thc abortion rights campaignitself, how could wonren of color fail to graspits urgency?They vverefar more familiar than their white sisterswith the nurderously clumsy scalpelsof inept abortionistsseeking profit in illegality.In New York, for instance,during the severalvcars precedingthe decriminaliza tion of abortions in that state,s<ure 80 percentof the deathscausctl by illegal abortions involved lSlackand Puerto Rican women.l Immediately afterward, women ol cokrr receivedclose to half of ail the legal abortions. If the abortion rights campaignof the early 1970sneeded to be remindedthar rvomenof color wanted desperatclyto escapcthe back-room quack abortionists,the_v shoultl have also realized that thesc same women were not about to expressDro 354 'RAClsM,BrRrH CoNTROL AND REpRoDUCTTVERTGHTS' ains indisputable.But l,rrrtionsentiments. The,v ',vere in favor ctfabortton rlgbts,which did not mean rruch to bc dcsiredin rlr,rlthev wcre proponentsof abortion. I(hen Black rrnd l,atina women resort t,,,rbortiortsirr suchlarge numbers, the storiestl-rel tell are not so much lbout th control movement rir,ir <iesireto be frec of their pregnancv,but rather about the miserablesocial at last declaredlegal. , ,,rrLlitionsrvhich clissuadethem from bringing new lives into the world. -iberation movetrtent, lllack women havebeen aborting themselvessincc thc ellrliestdays of slavery. husiasmand the mili \l.rlv slave women refused to bring childrcn into a worlci of interminable rtion rights canlpaign l, ,rced labol where chainsand floggingsand sexual21buse for womcn werc thc (410 US) and l)oe r.'. , r t r.ydayconditions of life. A doctor practicing in ()corgia around the midclle ran'sright to personal ,'i the last century noticed that abortiorrs and niscarriages were far morc re an abortion. L,'rnmon among his slavepatients than among the rvhite \{'onlen lle treated. t include substantial \icording to the physician,either Black women worked too hard or, ositior of the Jargcr as the plantersbelieve, the blacksare possessedof a secretbv rvhich they ising.\Vhen questions destro,vthe fetusat an early stageof gestation. All cor.rntrypractition- ncn in both thc larger ersare awareof the frequcntcomplaints of plantcrs(about the) . unnaI planationswere com- ural tendencyin the African femaleto destroy her offspring.l rriocl:r""'omen of color ; and/or they had not I rpressingshock that'whole familiesof women f:ril to haveany children',' thrs e rcal neaning of tlre ,l0ctornever considered how'unnatural' it was to raisechilclren under the slave npalgD\,r'ils not t() be ..\\tem. The prcviouslymeDtioned episode of Margaret Garner,a fugitive slave usnessamong women r lro killed her orvn daughtcraDd attemptedsuicide hcrself u'hen shc was cap ;.inninrlsof the birth r'rredby.lave-catthcr.. r*.r c,rsern p,,irrt. Sherejoiced that thc girl $'asdeaci -'now slrc u,ould ncver know u,hat a luct a historical self woman suffersas a slave'- anclplcaclecl to be tried for nrurder'l *,ill gcr Black people'ssuspi- singingto thc gallows rather than be returned to slaver_v!'r :d, rvhen some Black le, it clid appear to be Why were sclf imposed abortions and reluctant acts of infanticide such rights activisrs (()rnmon 'ortion occurrencesduring slavery?Not becauseBlack women had discov genocidewcre impor- , fcd solutjons to their predic2rment,but rathcr becauscthey were desperate. t. This movcment,for \bortions and infanticideswerc actsof dcspcration,motivated not by the bio- zation a racist form logicalbirth processbut by the oppressiveconditions of slavery.Most ol these 3ht to plan their preg' \v()nren,no doubt! would haveexpressed their deepestresentment had someone and abortions u'ould lr.riledtheir abortions as a stcppingstonc to$'ard frcedorrr. During the early abortion rightscampaign it rvastoo frequentlyassumed th.lt vonen of color fail to l, gal abortions provided a viable alternativeto the myriad problems posedby white sistersu,ith thc 1,,rvertv.As if having fewer children could create more jobs, higher wages, 1profit in illegality.In l,etterschools, etc., etc. This assumprionreflected the tendencyto blur thc dis- ng the decriIninaliza- rrr)ctionbetween abortion rights and the g,eneraladvocacy of abortions. The aths causedby ilJeg:rl (.rmpaignoften failed to proviclea voice for women who wanted the /iglr, to rmediitcly afterward, lcgalabortions while deploringthe socialconditions that prohibited them trom rtions.If thc abortion lrr:aringmore children. I that wonen of color The renewedoffensive against abortion rights that erupted duringithe latter rtionists,they should lralfof the 1970shas rrade it absolutelynecessary to focus more sharplyon thc bout to expresspro- rrtedsof poor and racially oppressedwomen. By 1977 the passageof the Hyde 355 Il5 ANGELADAVIs Ameudment in (iongresshad mandaredthe withdrarval of federalfunding for abortions,causing manv statelegislaturcs to follorv suit. Biack, Puerto Ricrn, Cihicanaand Native Amcrican womcn, togetherwith their irrpoverishrd rvhitc sisters,rver.e thus elfectivclvdivesteti of the right to lcgal rbortions- Sincesur- gicrrl sterilizrtions, fLrndcd bv the f)epartment of Health, Education and Wclfare, remaineclfree on dcrrand, more and more poor rvomen have been forced to opt for permancrrtinfertility. Vhat is urgentl,vrequircd
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