Killing the Black Body (book)
From Norplant to the Contraceptive Vaccine, The New Frontier of Population Control
In Chapter 3 of Roberts' book Killing the Black Body Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty she describes how racial politics creates a challenge to reproductive rights and does not create reproductive freedom for everyone. Using the example of Norplant, Roberts shows the racial controversy linked to early experimentation of Norplant on women of non-white ethnicities. Norplant is made up of six silicone capsules that are filled with levonrgestral, a synthetic hormone. This gets implanted under the skin of a woman’s upper arm. Although the procedure takes ten to fifteen minutes, the longevity of the effects last up to five years in which low doses of hormones are released into the bloodstream to suppress ovulation and thickening the cervical mucus to prevent the sperm from contact with the egg. Norplant was considered the most convenient and successful form of contraceptive because it didn’t require cooperation from a woman’s partner, didn’t interrupt the frequency in which women had sex, and women didn’t have to remember to take it daily.
Race
Norplant is now distributed in the United States through Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories and legislation is now using it as a means of population control. Poor Black women are targeted and persuaded with welfare financial incentives to Norplant because they are deemed as incapable of supporting their children. It was made to be available to women through Medicaid although the cost was $365 for the capsules and $150-$500 for the implantation. The government mandated women to be notified about the accessibility of Norplant. Many states and legislatures used this new contraceptive to propose curbing the birthrate of poor black women. Some created measures to try and implant poor women or women on welfare with Norplant. Others even considered making it mandatory for women on welfare to reduce the number of poor children being supported by the government. "Maryland governor William Schaefer suggested that the state should consider making Norplant mandatory for women on welfare. Similarly, bills introduced in Mississippi and South Carolina would require women who already have children to get Norplant inserted as a condition for receiving future benefits." [1]
Teenage Pregnancy
The proponents to Norplant also saw it as a solution to teenage pregnancy. Using Norplant to prevent pregnancy and young teenage mothers, it would allow these girls to pursue careers and decrease the number of children dependent on government aid. Teenage pregnancy is deemed as a Black cultural trait even though the rate of births out of wedlock for whites has nearly doubled since 1980 compared to the birth rate of Blacks who has risen only 7 percent. Although the use of Norplant is best suitable for teenagers and decreases the likelihood of pregnancies, Roberts raises the question of does Norplant solve the social issue of teenage pregnancy? Norplant does not prevent teenage girls from sexual assault or STD prevention. Roberts argues that, “distributing long-acting contraceptives to young girls unfairly shifts the spotlight away from the adult men who are largely responsible for the problem.” Also, teenage girls who are grew up in poor environments are not given enough of an incentive to avoid teenage pregnancy.
Although Norplant helped reduce teen pregnancy within a period of 5 years, by being marketed to poor black communities, Norplant created a racial segregation. Norplant is mostly distributed in inner-cities where the population is dominated by Blacks.Robert’s says that "proposals designed to reduce the number of children born to poor parents are an attempt to fend off this threat to white people's welfare, a threat that is specifically Black."[1](112) This shows the privilege and inequality between race and class ranking in the society which refers to the hierarchy of gender. Dorothy Roberts points out that welfare reform is a racial issue that targets Black people especially single Black mothers because they are blamed for raising children who become delinquents and dependent on welfare. The point she makes is that “many whites hold deeply embedded beliefs about the dangers of Black reproduction that infect any scheme to solve social problems through birth control; therefore, race and class politics work together to propel coercive birth control policies.” Roberts argues that, “because class distinctions are racialized, race and class are inextricably linked in the development of welfare policy.” Therefore, because most Blacks are poor and are disproportionately reliant on welfare, the idea of welfare becomes associated with Black people and poor Black women are labeled as the “welfare queen”. The prevailing myth that describes poor Black mothers as devious in having more children in order to receive a heftier monthly paycheck from the government supports America’s persistent belief that these mothers will pass on this mindset to their children. These are all examples of how Norplant was used as a solution to a monocausal problem instead of seeing race, gender inequalities, and teenage mothers as multi-causal issues.