Choice and Coercion: Birth Control, Sterilization, and Abortion in Public Health and Welfare (Gender and American Culture)

353 Pages·2016·2.97 MB·English

by  Johanna Schoen

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Choice Coercion
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Gender American Culture
coeditors
Thadious M. Davis
Linda K. Kerber
editorial advisory board
Nancy Cott
Cathy N. Davidson
Jane Sherron De Hart
Sara Evans
Mary Kelley
Annette Kolodny
Wendy Martin
Nell Irvin Painter
Janice Radway
Barbara Sicherman
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Choic&e
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Coercion
n Birth Control,
n Sterilization,
n and Abortion
n in Public Health
n and Welfare
Johanna Schoen
The University of
North Carolina Press
Chapel Hill & London
∫ 2005 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
Designed by Heidi Perov
Set in Cycles and TheSerif
by Keystone Typesetting, Inc.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Publication of this work was aided by a generous
grant from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for
permanence and durability of the Committee on
Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the
Council on Library Resources.
n Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Schoen, Johanna.
Choice and coercion: birth control, sterilization, and
abortion in public health and welfare / Johanna Schoen.
p. cm.—(Gender and American culture)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 0-8078-2919-6 (cloth: alk. paper)
isbn 0-8078-5585-5 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Birth control—Government policy—North Carolina—
History. 2. Sterilization, Eugenic—North Carolina—History.
3. Abortion—Government policy—North Carolina—History.
I. Title. II. Gender & American culture.
hq766.5.u5s36 2005
363.9%6%09756—dc22
2004017632
cloth 09 08 07 06 05 5 4 3 2 1
paper 09 08 07 06 05 5 4 3 2 1
In memory of Walter Schoen, 1927–1994,
and for Sabine Schoen
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Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Abbreviations xv
introduction
A Great Thing for Poor Folks 1
chapter one
Teaching Birth Control on Tobacco Road and in
Mill Village Alley: The History of Public Birth
Control Services 21
chapter two
Nothing Is Removed Except the Possibility of Parenthood:
Women and the Politics of Sterilization 75
chapter three
I Knew That It Was a Serious Crime:
Negotiating Abortion before Roe v. Wade 139
chapter four
Taking Foam Powder and Jellies to the Natives:
Family Planning Goes Abroad 197
epilogue
From the Footnotes to the Headlines:
Sterilization Apologies and Their Lessons 241
Notes 251
Bibliography 303
Index 319
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Illustrations and Figures
illustrations
Sponge and foam powder 33
Clarence J. Gamble 35
North Carolina counties with birth control services, 1939 36
Lena Hillard 41
Wallace Kuralt Sr. 64
Takey Crist 69
Minutes of Eugenics Board meeting 85
Mary 94
Mildred 94
‘‘Birth control prevents needless deaths’’ 162
Racial shift in North Carolina 246
figures
1. Sterilization petitions, 1933–1949 101
2. Sterilization petitions, 1950–1966 101
3. Sterilizations in California 106
4. Sterilizations in Virginia 106
5. Sterilizations in North Carolina 106
6. North Carolina sterilizations, by race 110
7. Number of children born to patients prior to
sterilization petition 111
8. Petitions for elective sterilizations received by the
North Carolina Eugenics Board, by race 122
9. Therapeutic abortions in North Carolina 188