Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty

How might limitations on reproductive liberty—not only abortion, but also equal access to contraceptives—connect to labor, wage control, and capitalism?

What conclusions can you draw about Margaret Sanger’s legacy? Do you praise her efforts in birth control and reform? Why or why not?

What connections exist between the Black liberation movement and the movement to increase access to birth control? Why do you think that US society has so often separated feminism from Black liberation? In your response to the latter question, consider Roberts’ note about the responses of activists, such as Marcus Garvey, to birth control reform.

How might the history of federally funded sterilization programs, which targeted Black communities, connect to contemporary conspiracy theories and fears about mandated healthcare?

Where do you stand on the movement to encourage poor Black teenagers, some of whom were already mothers, to take Norplant? Do you think it was ethical? Why or why not? If not, what solutions would you have proposed to avoid future teen pregnancy?

Do you agree with Roberts’s assessment that societies place less value on the lives of poor Black women? Why or why not? If you agree, what other examples of this bias can you provide? If you disagree, what evidence do you have to refute this notion?

In what ways does Roberts evoke historical imagery to challenge conventional understandings of racial oppression and instead contextualize them within the history of controlling Black women’s reproduction?

To what extent does Roberts’s inclusion of perspectives from figures such as Marion Barry and Randall Kennedy strengthen or weaken her arguments about the injustices that Black pregnant women have faced?