I remember reading something about the forced/coerced sterilization of women in Puerto Rico, of African-Americans, and Native Americans (on some reservations, the rate of sterilization reached 80%) which may answer some of the concerns raised. Some women chose this option since they did not want any more children. Others were told that sterilization was necessary in order to receive welfare payments. In fact, I am sure the latter was regularly used by welfare authorities in the 1950s and 1960s to control the fertility of the poor. However, sterilization has deep roots in the US ... roots so deep that Hitler studied them and incorporated them into Nazi eugenic policy (always learn from the best). From the 1920s to the 1950s ... even in many cases in the 1970s ... sterilization was almost routine in many government funded medical procedures for the poor (particularly in the South). Regarding the Catholic Church, Columbia has an extensive sterilization program for women. I am sure that the Catholic hierarchy condemns it, and much of the clergy condemns it, but the government (with US government support until the late 1980s) encourages it and its probably more accessible than other forms of birth control. Andrew Sessions Department of Political Science University of Wisconsin Madison, WI 53706, USA
