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

Thursday, March 5th

Matters of Choice: Puerto Rican Women's Struggle for Reproductive Freedom
2:30-3:30pm in Ballantine Hall 004 Professor Iris López will be discussing
her most recent book, Matters of Choice: Puerto Rican Women's Struggle for
Reproductive Freedom (Rutgers University Press, 2008)as part of IU's Women's
History Month Lecture Series. Sponsored by Latino Studies and the Office of
Women's Affairs.

Description: In this talk Dr. Lopez will present a comprehensive analysis of
the dichotomous views that have portrayed Puerto Rican women as victims of
sterilization abuse or active agents that exercise complete reproductive
freedom. Drawing upon twenty-five years of research on sterilized Puerto
Rican women from five different families in Brooklyn, New York, she
untangles the interplay between how women make fertility decisions within
their social, economic, cultural, and historical constraints. Professor
López will read a few excerpts from the stories of the women she worked
with, and present her model of reproductive freedom, which transcends
victim/agent debates and proposes a broader definition of reproductive
rights within a feminist anthropological context.