In Episode 4 of "Don't Mention It," we dive into the history or reproductive health in the United States with historian Dr. Lauren MacIvor Thompson. We talk about 19th and early 20th century reproductive health in the United States, how a lack of fundamental equality in the Constitution restricts our access to healthcare, sterilization, the Comstock Laws, "Twilight Sleep," and more.
Note: Some audio issues occurred in the recording of this episode, you may notice audio level changes in the intro section.
The view expressed by the host in Underestimated: A Podcast are those of the host, and are not those of anyone else, any other entity, any employer, or company.
Show Notes:
Books & Articles
Jacqueline H. Wolf: Cesarean Section: An American History of Risk, Technology, and Consequencehttps://www.amazon.com/Cesarean-Section-American-Technology-Consequence/dp/1421425521
Dr. Deirdre Cooper Owens: Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecologyhttps://www.amazon.com/Medical-Bondage-Origins-American-Gynecology/dp/0820351350
Kelly Suzanne O’Donnell: "Reproducing Jane: Abortion Stories and Women’s Political Histories," Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 43, no. 1 (Autumn 2017): 77-96.https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/692444
Trump “Gag Rule” Articles
Katelyn Burns, Rewire News
Trump Administration Releases Final Text of Domestic ‘Gag Rule’ Restriction on Title X
Ariana Eunjung Cha, National reporter for The Washington Post
Trump administration bars clinics that provide abortions or abortion referrals from federal funding
Steve Benen, MSNBC for The Rachel Maddow Show, “Targeting abortion rights, Trump unveils ‘domestic gag rule’”
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/targeting-abortion-rights-trump-unveils-domestic-gag-rule
Michelle Goldberg, Slate.com, Trump Didn’t Just Reinstate the Global Gag Rule. He Massively Expanded It.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2017/01/trumps-global-gag-rule-is-even-worse-than-it-seemed.html
Steve Benen, MSNBC for The Rachel Maddow Show, Following women’s marches, Republicans target reproductive rights
Sterilization Articles
Hastings Women’s Law Journal
"If They Hand You a Paper, You Sign It": A Call to End the Sterilization of Women in Prison
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/Roth_If_They_Hand_You_1_15_2015.pdf
NPR
California's Prison Sterilizations Reportedly Echo Eugenics Era
“Twilight Sleep” Resources
New York Times, 1915
Twilight Sleep Is Subject of a New Investigation
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/01/31/301777902.pdf
Twilight Sleep – The Brutal Way Some Women Gave Birth In The 1900s
https://www.bellybelly.com.au/birth/twilight-sleep/
“The Business of Being Born,” clip from documentary on Twilight Sleep
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzxs5qPsqX4
Additional video clip about Twilight Sleep
“Twilight Sleep” offered the promise of painless birth—but at what cost?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiFRPx7d_eU
Sarah Seltzer, Rewire.news
“Twilight Sleep:” Is The Past Prologue for Today’s Debates Over Birthing Choices?
Henci Goer, The Journal of Perinatal Education
Cruelty in Maternity Wards: Fifty Years Later
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2920649/
Lithotomy position
Black Women’s Maternal Health Article - Includes Data from CDC
NPR
Black Mothers Keep Dying After Giving Birth. Shalon Irving's Story Explains Why
Sound Sources
Harpstrum.wav - freesound.org
https://freesound.org/people/adriann/sounds/149187/
Keeping Old Letters by Lee Rosevere is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License.
Edited for podcast
Somber Heart by Lee Rosevere is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License.
Edited for podcast
Everywhere by Lee Rosevere is licensed under a Attribution License.
Edited for podcast
Untitled music box recording