Following World War I, U.S. institutions and medical authorities pursued policies aimed at controlling Puerto Rico's population and reproduction. Influenced by the eugenics movement, many physicians promoted sterilization as a primary method of birth control, arguing that other contraceptive methods were "too complicated" for working-class and rural Puerto Rican women. Framed as a public health intervention, these practices reflected broader assumptions about poverty, race, and who should have the right to determine their reproductive future.

One prominent figure associated with this history was Dr. Cornelius P. Rhoads, an American physician and cancer researcher who worked in Puerto Rico in 1931. In a private letter attributed to him, Rhoads expressed explicitly racist views about Puerto Ricans, describing them as a "degenerate race" and advocating their extermination. Although the letter later became public and provoked outrage, Rhoads continued his medical career in the United States, eventually holding prominent positions in cancer research. His career illustrates the troubling relationship between racist ideologies and the medical institutions entrusted with protecting human life.

In 1937, Puerto Rico enacted Law 116, which established a legal framework for sterilization. In the decades that followed, sterilization became a widespread practice, disproportionately affecting working-class women. Many women experienced pressure, deception, or inadequate explanations when presented with the procedure. Some were led to believe sterilization was reversible, while others were not given meaningful opportunities to provide informed consent. Economic vulnerability and unequal access to medical information further compromised women's ability to make autonomous decisions about their bodies. 

By 1965, more than one-third of Puerto Rican women of childbearing age had been sterilized, representing one of the highest sterilization rates ever documented. Some procedures were performed shortly after childbirth, when women were particularly vulnerable. Others faced pressure connected to employment, with reports of women being told that refusing sterilization could jeopardize their job opportunities. These practices reveal how reproductive decisions can cease to be personal choices when shaped by institutional power, economic coercion, and colonial inequality.

These histories are not simply historical footnotes. They persist in the collective memory of families and communities whose reproductive autonomy was compromised by policies presented as progress. La Operación is my visual response to this history, confronting the violence that occurs when medical authority and government policy are used to control marginalized populations. The work asks viewers to consider how racism, colonialism, and economic inequality have shaped reproductive healthcare in Puerto Rico and how their legacies continue to inform contemporary struggles for bodily autonomy and reproductive justice.

 Through La Operación, I seek to bring these stories into view, honoring the women whose experiences have too often been overlooked and challenging us to recognize the enduring consequences of reproductive injustice.

Historical source: La Operación, directed by Ana María García, Latin American Film Project / Skylight Pictures, 1982.

Installation View