FORCED LATINX STERILIZATION

By the mid-20th century, over 30 states in the United States had laws that encouraged sterilization of those deemed unfit to procreate. These medical procedures were normalized against hispanic and latinx people as they were seen at a “lower racial level,” “inherently less intelligent, immoral, hyperfertile and criminally inclined.” (Smithsonian) 
 

California’s Asexualization Acts at the beginning of the century had a great impact on the views of latinx people and their lack of choice in reproducing. These procedures had an effect, not only in the United States, but worldwide, too. For example, through a eugenics advocate in the eastern United States, Adolf Hitler learned of the practices in California and replicated these procedures, among others, on two million people in Nazi Germany during the 1930s. Procedures performed included vasectomy, salpingectomy, hysterectomy, and other practices. 
 

Latinx people were often coerced into these procedures from those in power. In return for enduring these operations, people of color were offered reduced sentences in prison (a practice that continues today) or assured that they were helping their community’s economy with a reduced population.