#nomasbebes

8th post: Summary

The problem is very serious because the statistics on how many girls are affected each year is huge. According to UNICEF, approximately 39,000 child marriages happen every day, and 14.2 million girls annually. (UNICEF, 2013) Not only do these child marriages happen in one country, or continent, but they happen in parts of the world; from Africa to Asia to the Middle East to some communities in England.  The problem seems so foreign to us because we do not hear of cases in the United States, but I bet if it did, it would be getting more support from others and more attention from the media. The amount of life and education these girls are missing out on by getting married is bigger than numbers can explain. By reading about the stories about all of the girls that were affected, like Nujood or Gadya, I can try to imagine myself in their place, and think of the hardships I would have to face. I love school, I love having freedom, I love only worrying about my self sometimes(I have to admit). However, with that fate assigned to me, all of that freedom and selfishness would disappear, and I would have to raise a baby while still raising myself, all the while being with someone for the rest of my life whom I do not love. From my research, I have developed a deeper sorrow for the girls that have to go through this.  

One issue that we covered in class that I can definitely relate to this topic is the commentary we listened to - “No Más Bébés.”  The victims in that commentary were Latina women, who were unintentionally signing a document that allowed the doctor to tie their tubes so that they couldn’t have any more babies. They had their rights taken away from them. Like the young girls, the lack of education made/makes the situation more difficult. Also, the women in “No Más Bébés” felt a great pressure while it was happening, in regards to signing the papers and being unaware of what was happening. We can compare that the young girls feeling a great deal of pressure of marrying someone, and making the deal a pleasant one. At the same time, some of the girls(after being married), stated that they were so young that they really didn’t understand what was going on at the time.

References:

'No Más Bebés' Exposes Sterilization Abuse Against Latinas in L.A.

"No Más Bebés," a new documentary about Los Angeles County General Hospital's sterilization abuse against Latinas, is set to premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival this month. The film tells the story of Madrigal v. Quilligan, a historic lawsuit filed by10 Mexican-American women who had been sterilized in the early '70s after having emergency Cesarean sections.

Some of the women didn’t know that they'd undergone tubal ligations until Antonia Hernandéz, a Latina lawyer just one year out of law school, began contacting them. She'd gotten their names from Bernard Rosenfeld, a young white L.A. County resident who witnessed and condemned the abuse. Their suit named the hospital, the residents who performed their procedures and the state and federal governments.