Laboratory of Deficiency: Sterilization and Confinement in California, 1900–1950s (Reproductive Justice: A New Vision for the 21st Century)

Reproductive Justice: A New Vision for the Twenty-First Century

by Natalie Lira

Pacific Colony, a Southern California institution established to care for the “feebleminded,” justified the incarceration, sterilization, and forced mutilation of some of the most vulnerable members of society from the 1920s through the 1950s. Institutional records document the convergence of ableism and racism in Pacific Colony. Analyzing a vast archive, Natalie Lira reveals how political concerns over Mexican immigration—particularly ideas about the low intelligence, deviant sexuality, and inherent criminality of the “Mexican race”—shaped decisions regarding the treatment and reproductive future of Mexican-origin patients. Laboratory of Deficiency documents the ways Mexican-origin people sought out creative resistance to institutional control and offers insight into how race, disability, and social deviance have been called upon to justify the confinement and reproductive constraint of certain individuals in the name of public health and progress.

284 pages, Hardcover

Published November 30, 2021

Reviews

[Yoni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shocking parallels to the Nazi project, down to the "feebleminded" categorization. Surprised that comparison isn't made even once, especially given the clear temporal overlap.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Information is repeated quite frequently, but personal stories and anecdotes help keep the narrative alive and personal. I would love to compare this to a book on the prison industrial complex and note the similarities between prisons and state institutions, as Lira mentions in the conclusion.