During the 20th century, an abuse of bodily autonomy and public health took place on the island of Puerto Rico: the forced and coerced sterilization of thousands of Puerto Rican women and girls. The fact and intentional planning of this atrocity has been frequently overlooked or denied by the governments of the United States and Puerto Rico, as well as by the hospitals and organizations complicit in these events. However, historical sources and statistics clearly depict what happened, and the testimonies of the victims of sterilization express the truth of these events. Understanding how these practices were able to occur, the rhetoric and beliefs behind sterilization, and the political situation that informed what happened can help prevent atrocities like these from happening in the future.
