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Colonialism, Catholicism, and Contraception: A History of Birth Control in Puerto Rico
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Disease Books > Contraception > Item 18
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Colonialism, Catholicism, and Contraception: A History of Birth Control in Puerto Rico
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Hardcover
by Annette B. Ramirez de Arellano and Conrad Seipp
Sales Rank: 1486617
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$122.49
At Amazon
on 11-20-2011.
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Features
Paperback: 233 pages
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press January 27, 2011
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0807897574
ISBN-13: 978-0807897577
Product Dimensions:
8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
Owner Reviews, Ratings, Comments and Criticism
Though unintentional, "Colonialism, Catholicism, and Contraception" (Annette B. Ramirez de Arellano and Conrad Seipp, University of North Carolina Press, 1983) constitutes a fascinating first work in a three volume history, paired with "Catholics and Contraception: An American History" (Leslie Woodcock Tentler, Cornell University Press, 2004) and "John Cuthbert Ford, SJ." (Eric Genilo, Georgetown University Press, 2007). Re-released as a 2009 paperback, Annette B. Ramirez de Arellano and Conrad Seipp try to summarize
*"how a society has attempted to exercise control over its size....outlined against the growing acceptance of birth control....
*"[a pattern of hypocrisy, in a] recurrent disparity between policy and practice....
*"[how] the subject of contraception has been...inextricably intertwined with Catholicism and colonialism....
*"Puerto Rico served as a staging area for many apostles of what has come to be characterized as the `medical model' of population control. The answer was seen in the technological fix; its guidance was to be entrusted to a combination social engineer and marketing specialist" (pp. 173, 180).
Ramirez de Arellano and Seipp are rather forthright about their own perspectives: "Rejecting any premise of neutrality, we must acknowledge our own value premises embedded in the historical reconstruction we have attempted" (p. xi). They have minimal (if any) moral difficulties with abortion, contraception, and/or sterilization. When Ramirez de Arellano and Seipp try to explain Catholic positions on these issues, their attempts are deficient. Neither seems to have a familiarity with (or appreciation for) the beautiful teachings on marriage, family, and sexuality, as set forth in Pope Paul VI's Humanae Vitaeand Pope John Paul II's Theology Of the Body. Be that said, they present a fascinating - and deeply disturbing - history.
To Puerto Rico, "the American conquest of the land was of overwhelming significance....Overpopulation became a recurrent theme in all American pronouncements about Puerto Rico" (pp. 3, 14). It appears that Malthusian, "Blame the Victim" attitudes were long and frequently brewing below the surface, ready to infect "philanthropic" efforts. Instead of consistently advocating for economic justice, efforts to control the size of Puerto Rico's population became increasingly accepted - both on and off the island (Ultimately, the authors seem to have little problem with this.):
*"Dr. [Clarence J.] Gamble, a physician by training, combined a researcher's intellectual curiosity with the gadgeteer's fascination with technology and the reformer's zeal for results....as an heir to the Proctor and Gamble fortune, he commanded plentiful resources ....In 1924 he became interested in contraception and decided to devote his professional life and philanthropic efforts to the cause of birth control....Gamble saw Puerto Rico as an ideal place in which to test new methods and spread the practice of contraception" (p. 45).
* "By 1946-47, Puerto Rico had become a laboratory for demographers and other social scientists, and the island's population had become the subject of much investigation, analysis, and conjecture....Gamble's `intensive experiment' ...involved selecting a typical part of the island with approximately ten thousand persons and discovering whether it was possible to STABILIZE [emphasis added] the population....Gamble emphasized the characteristics making Puerto Rico a particularly apt area for an experiment in population control....The project received the respectable title of the `Johns Hopkins Maternal and Child Health Demonstration,' and Gamble wrote several sponsors stressing that `no one [be] informed that there is a Birth Control experiment being carried on in Puerto Rico" (p. 94, pp. 97 - 101).
* "To many birth controllers, an apirinlike pill that would be unrelated to sexual intercourse and would `immunize' against pregnancy seemed to be the ideal method of birth control" (p. 105). Margaret "Sanger was...successful in obtaining the financing required by the scientists. In January of 1952 she had met with Katherine Dexter McCormick to discuss the prospects of contraceptive research....[McCormick's] husband was an heir to the fortune of Cyrus McCormick....researchers were looking for possible ways to confirm their preliminary findings on a larger group of human subjects. In McCormick's words, it was necessary to find `a "cage" of ovulating females' who would submit themselves to clinical experimentation....Dr. [John] Rock agreed that as soon as they were confident of their results, they `should attempt in Puerto Rico certain experiments which would be difficult in this country'" (pp. 105 - 108).
* "In addition to oral contraceptives and Emko foam, intrauterine devices and Depo-Provera were tested in Puerto Rico" (p.131)
* "The introduction of new contraceptives...had to compete with a growing trend toward sterilization in Puerto Rico.... Some have suggested that the Catholic population found sterilization more acceptable than other contraceptive measures....a single violation of Church doctrine, in contrast to the repeated `sinning' required by other methods" (pp. 134, 141).
* "In the early 1960s an inquiry into the prevalence of abortion in Puerto Rico revealed that certain medical establishments were serving an international clientele....In some cases, only the site of the clinic was different from that of pre-Castro Cuba; the doctors were the same, since some of the San Juan clinics were operated by exiled Cuban physicians who had merely transplanted part of their network to Puerto Rico....[By 1967] many on the mainland had the impression that the procedure was legal on the island" (pp. 145, 146).
* In 1960, "a group of Catholic laymen organized the Christian Action Party (CAP)....The appeal of the new party was based almost exclusively on its support of religious instruction for public school pupils and its objection to existing legislation on birth control and sterilization....Bishops James P. Davis of San Juan and James E. McManus of Ponce issued a pastoral letter describing the CAP as `the answer to the intolerable attitude' of the island's established political parties....political controversy was heightened when Francis Cardinal Spellman of New York visited Puerto Rico....Spellman was asked to comment on the bishops' involvement with the CAP. Spellman's diplomatic reply was, `I keep out of politics. It is outside my competence and will,' thereby implying that Davis and McManus should do the same. Scarcely a week later, ...[Bishops Davis and McManus] issued a pastoral letter prohibiting Catholics of Puerto Rico from voting for [Governor] Muniz Marin and the PDP....The focus for episcopal concern was a paragraph suggesting that majority opinion was the determining principle in defining public morality....[The bishops decried] this doctrine of moral relativism....John F. Kennedy, who aspired to be his country's first Catholic president, quickly reacted to the pastoral letter, calling the bishops' action `wholly improper'....Munoz sent a trusted representative to meet with Robert F. Kennedy. Munoz sought to counteract the bishops' accusations, while the Kennedys attempted to quarantine the Puerto Rican dispute. Subsequent declarations of several distinguished Catholic prelates accomplished both aims" (pp. 150 - 153). By 1965, Bishops Davis and McManus were gone, as was their style. Henceforth, "the church was vigilant but not vocal" (p. 160).
* When asked about making contraceptives part of economic aid in 1959, President Eisenhower responded that "I cannot imagine anything more emphatically a subject that is not a proper political or government activity or function or responsibility....That's not our business'....by 1965 birth control had become part of the federal government's business" (p. 160).
Charles J. Adams III describes some mid-1960s military experiences in Puerto Rico:
* "I was a 19, then 20 year old sailor who watched as planes from our aircraft carrier's air group strafed the island with live ammunition.... the incessant attack continued for hours. I was in the U.S. Navy....We were not bombing a hostile land. We were not blasting enemy positions. We were bombing ourselves. Specifically, we were bombing the eastern side of Isla de Vieques, an otherwise tranquil island just six miles off the coast of Puerto Rico....there were thousands who lived on the other side of Vieques. And understandably, they weren't very happy that the Navy was using part of their homeland as a target. It has been a target since 1941....the Navy finally ceased its bombing runs in 2003. Since then, an aggressive marketing campaign has billed Vieques as `the jewel of the Caribbean'.... But, a recent report on CNN called it a `Poisoned Paradise' and rehashed health concerns that are the legacy of the munitions testing era" (The Reading Eagle, 3/14/10).
What of the physical side effects to the people of Puerto Rico from incessant mechanical, pharmaceutical and surgical meddlings? "Breast Cancer: Its Link to Abortion and the Birth Control Pill" (Chris Kahlenborn, One More Soul, 2001) suggests some of the damage...
* Dr. Kahlenborn masterfully...
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Colonialism, Catholicism, and Contraception: A History of Birth Control in Puerto Rico
Available from Amazon
Price: $122.49
Updated on 11-20-2011.
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