Date of Award
Spring 5-9-2026
Document Type
Honors Thesis
Department/Major
Basic Biomedical Science
Additional Department
History
First Advisor
Dr. Sara Lampert
Second Advisor
Dr. Leah Seurer
Third Advisor
Dr. Cynthia Struckman-Johnson
Keywords
Reproductive justice, medical racism, reproductive healthcare, eugenics, population control, coercive sterilization, Black women, medical distrust
Subject Categories
African American Studies | Black History | Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | History of Gender | History of Science, Technology, and Medicine | Medical Education | Medical Humanities | Obstetrics and Gynecology | Women's Health | Women's History | Women's Studies
Abstract
Black women in the United States continue to experience disproportionately high rates of maternal mortality, negative reproductive healthcare experiences, and documented disparities in medical treatment. From slavery through the twenty-first century, American medicine has repeatedly positioned Black women’s reproduction as a site of regulation, rather than care, making medical mistrust among Black women a rational response to a long history of institutional conflict embedded in American medicine. Drawing on medical history and bioethical analysis, this thesis traces reproductive abuse across distinct, yet connected, eras. Beginning with antebellum gynecological experimentation on enslaved women, it demonstrates how racialized assumptions about pain and biological differences shaped the foundations of American gynecology. From there, the thesis examines the rise of eugenics, the birth control movement, and state-sanctioned sterilization policies. Twentieth century research abuses are then explored, illustrating the institutional incentives that sustained racialized reproductive control of the time. By situating contemporary disparities within this historical framework, this thesis frames distrust as a historically grounded response to structural abuse. Repairing present-day inequities requires institutional acknowledgement of the historical conditions that shaped reproductive healthcare in the United States.
Recommended Citation
Wilk, Rheya K., "Care, Control, and the Racial Regulation of Black Women’s Reproduction in American Medicine" (2026). Honors Thesis. 409.
https://red.library.usd.edu/honors-thesis/409
Included in
African American Studies Commons, Black History Commons, History of Gender Commons, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Commons, Medical Education Commons, Medical Humanities Commons, Obstetrics and Gynecology Commons, Women's Health Commons, Women's History Commons, Women's Studies Commons