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.RACISM. BIRTHCONTROLAND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS' AngelaDavis

\\ lren nineteenth-centuryfeminists raised the dcmand for 'voluntary motherlr,,ocl'.the c:rrnpaignfor birth control was born. Its plrponents rverec:rlledrad r,.rl sa n d they rveresubj ectcdto the srl nrenrockerl rrshad hcf.rl l rn t hc init iel .r(l v ()c a tes of w oman suffr:rge.' V rl untarv motherhood' w as consi der edauda, r( outrageousand outlandish b,vthoservho insistcdthat wives h:rti no right 'us, r,I r'efuscto satisfytheir husbands'sexuaI urges.Eventualll, of course,the right r,, birth control, like worren's right to vote, would be more or lesstaken tor lr.rrted by US public opinion. Yct in 1970, a fulJ ccntury later,the call for legal .,rrdeasilyaccessibleabortiorrs*'as no lesscontroversialth:rn the issueof'vol ,,,rt.rrymotherhood' u,hicb had originally launchedthe birth control movemcnt rrrth e U ni ted S tates. llirth control - individual choice, safc contraceptivemethods, as well as ,l,ortionswhcn necessary- is a fundamentalprerequisitefor the em.rncrpao,,rr , 'i rvomen.Sincethe right of birth control is obviously advantageousto women ,'i lll classesand races,it would appe:rr that even vastly dissimilar women's : r,lrps rvould have attemptcdfo unitr around this issue.In rcality, however,the 'r th control tnovement has seldom succeedcdin uniting women of diffcrerrt .,,ciaJtrackgrounds,and rarelv have the movement'sleaderspopularized thc ,,' rrtri n econccrns of rvorki ng cl ass w omen. Moreover, argLrmen t sadvanced I'r birth control advocates havc sorretirres bccn bascd on blatantlv racist

,,,r : An gel a D .tvi s {1981), 'R :ci srr, B i rth (l ntrol end R cproducti !e R ,ghts, pt. 102-71. i n la I) avi s, \Y amcn, R arc antl C l ass(l .ondor: l he Women\ P rcss,N e$ )i )rk, R sn dom H ous r.

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premises.The progressiveporcntial of birth control rerrains indisputable.Bur in actuirlit,v. the historical record of this rrovement leavesmuch to be desiredin the realm of challcngesto racism and classcxploitation. Thc most inportant vjctory of the contcmporary irirth controi rlovcnent rvas won during the earlv 1970s rvhen abortions \vere ar lesr declared legal. Having energed during the infancy of the new Wirmen'sLiberation nrovemenrr the struggleto legalizeabortior.rsincorporated.lll rhe enthusi:lsmand the mili tirncy ol tlre young ntovcmenr.Bv Januarl', 1973, the abortion rights camp.rrgn had reacfrecl:r triunlph.nt culmination. In Roc r,. \Yade (410 US) and Doe r,r. Bolton (410 US), the US SupremeCourt ruled that a woman's right to personal privacy implied her right to decidewhether or nor ro have an ahorrron. The ranks of the abortion rights campaign did not include subst:rntial numbers of womcn of color. (liven the racial conrpositiou of the largcr V(rmen's Liberatior movcment,this was not at all surprising.\(hen quesrions wcrc raised about the abscnceof racially oppressedwomen In both thc larger move[lent and in the abortion rights cantpaign,two explanationslvere c(]mnronly proposedin the discussionsand literatureof the period: women of coJor rvere overburdenedby their people'sfight irgainstr:rcism;and/or they had not yet bccome consciousof rhc centraliry of sexism.But the real rneaningof the almost lilv rvhite complexion of tlre abortion rights campaign vvasnor ro be lound in an ostensiblymyopic or underdevelopedconsciousness amorg women of color The truth lay buried in the ideological undcrpinnings of the birth colltr(Jlnro\.elnentitself. The failure of the abortion rights campaign to conduct a historical self evaluation led to a dargcrously strpcrficialappraisal of Black people'ssuspicious attitudes torn'ard birth control in gcneral. (irantecl, rvhen sorne lJlack people unhesitatinglvequatedbirth control with genocide,it