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

Contents

Contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction ix PA R T I The Globalization of Sterilization 1 The Birth Control Movement in Puerto Rico 3 2 Gender Awareness across Generations 20 PA R T I I Cultural Continuities and Urban Change 3 The Velez Family: Poverty, the Cancer Scare, and Hysterectomies 45 4 The Robles Family: Social Change and Gender Struggle 61 5 The Gomez Family: Under the Knife Again—Reversing La Operación 78 6 The Morales and Rivera Families: Tough Love and Sterile Choices 102 PA R T I I I Reproductive Rights and an Integral Model of Reproductive Freedom 7 Ideologies and Inequities in the Health Care System 125 v vi contents 8 Toward an Integral Model of Reproductive Freedom 142 Appendix: Genealogical Charts 157 Notes 163 References 167 Index 179 ...