Reproductive Justice in the U.S. Immigration Detention System
Claudia S Pepe1, Altaf Saadi, Rose L Molina
1Northeastern University School of Law, the Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts.
Abstract:
Reproductive coercion extends from a historical context in which the obstetrics and gynecology profession has interfered with the reproductive and bodily autonomy of immigrants. We provide illustrative examples of historical and contemporary immigration policies that allow mechanisms of reproductive control to persist within the immigration detention system. We end by compelling obstetrician-gynecologists to act as agents of change by leveraging their social, economic, and political power to resist and eliminate structures and norms that enable reproductive oppression of immigrant groups in detention.
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