#writing this post made me feel like typing amerikkka every time

[kittyit]

let's start over with the eugenics discussion

this is what eugenics has looked like in america during the last 200 years

forced sterilization of black, latina and indigenous women against their will during other routine procedures, including birth procedures, and in many cases being straight up lied about it or only told after the fact.

forced sterilization of developmentally disabled women in health care. this is because of the extremely high rates of sexual abuse by male healthcare providers. the sterilization prevents pregnancy instead of stopping the constant rape.

birth control/sterilization being given coercively to impoverished women (many black, latina & indigenous) as a barrier/bargaining chip for necessary social services, such as help with food, housing, drug programs.

sterilization being denied to well-do-do white women (or middle and upper class women in general) because "what if you want kids" - contrast this with above

the deaths of black women (regardless of class) in hospital settings during birth because of the eugenic devaluing of their reproductive health (of course exacerbated by the anti-black racism that is ever present in america)

the intense democratic involvement in "benevolent" eugenics and denial of such

the pervasive idea that the reason climate change is happening/capitalism is choking us all to death is because of "overpopulation" - which means "poors breeding at a rapid rate" - instead of the intensely destructive forces of millionaires/billionairies and their companies

doctors overstating their knowledge & abusing their power in order to attempt control what kind of babies are born, including giving women who want children genetic tests that are not accurate to the degree they're presented as

doctors bullying women who want to give birth to their fetuses who test as having disabling conditions or women who want to give birth who are "too old" (which is especially crazy because older men's sperm is way more reliably linked with the outcomes that are trying to be prevented)

two things are necessary in the discussion of eugenics: recognizing eugenics as a patriarchal force that has shaped societal development and our personal development in far-reaching ways AND putting the moral responsibility on patriarchy and patriarchal medicine, NOT individual women.

the reason this recent  discussion started around the topic of "is aborting fetuses with disabling conditions eugenics" is only because there were women saying that it is not. it is! but you know what? that doesn't matter in the situation that is being focused on.

women MUST be able to exercise their RIGHT to bodily autonomy and abortion without caveat. it doesn't matter why. it doesn't matter if her reasons are racist (she doesn't want a mixed race baby), sexist (she doesn't want a girl), eugenic (she doesn't want a baby with a disability), if she'd rather party, if she just doesn't feel like it, if she's just in a bad mood, if she does it on a whim - any reason you can think of. it doesn't fucking matter! women's right to abortion is undeniable, absolute, no matter what her reasons are or who wants to deem them morally incorrect or find them upsetting.

eugenics and anti-blackness (which are hand in hand, linked inextricably) are as american as school shootings and privatized healthcare. criticism of the patriarchal structure of eugenics is essential to understanding america as it is and also the effects globally american eugenic thought have had. just because we started the discussion off on the wrong foot doesn't mean that it's not and it doesn't mean it's too late to recover it.