The Theft of Life: Reproductive Violence on the Basis of Gender and Race

Ankita Kundu, Joseph Duffy, Theresa Miceli, Isabella Pommier, and Crystal’s ofrenda: The Theft of Life remembering the marginalized people who have experienced forced sterilization by the capitalist, racist, and patriarchal U.S. government. Forced sterilizations are a proponent of the eugenics movement that sought racial “improvement” by “improving” the gene pool by sterilizing those who are deemed “unproductive” and “unuseful” in U.S. capitalist society. Eugenics is a type of scientific racism that had the immoral theory of “racial improvement” and “planned breeding”. Thus, Black, Indigenous, People of color, disabled, and/or lower class peoples were targets of the eugenics movement in the U.S. Specifically targeting Black, Native, and Puerto Rican women.