Reproductive exploitation--one more way to abuse women

The other evening as I watched the PBS special Half the Sky, a documentary spotlighting the outrageous treatment of women in many parts of the world, I thought of another abuse of women which needs to be put front and center, reproduction exploitation.

Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

Half the Sky follows New York Times reporter Nicholas Kristof as he travels throughout Asia and Africa meeting survivors of all kinds of abuse: genital mutilation, which not only destroys a woman's ability to enjoy sex, but also increases her chances of dying in child birth; rape; forced prostitution of young girls; brutal beings--which sometimes led to death--by husbands and fathers while authorities turn the other way. There’s hope, though, as Kristof introduces us to women, often survivors themselves, who are running homes and schools for abuse victims, pressuring authorities to act, and helping women start small businesses. The key is empowering women.

Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn initially introduced Americans to this brutality against women with their 2009 book Half the Sky. The title comes from a Chinese proverb “Women Hold Up Half the Sky.”

Jane

Reproductive exploitation--coerced adoption, surrogacy, and egg buying-- although not at the same level as genital mutilation, forced prostitution, and murder is another form of abuse against women. Like the atrocities profiled by Kristof, it uses the bodies of women for the pleasure and profit of others. The trafficking of infants, kidnapped or purchased from poor parents, has been rampant Guatemala, China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Ethiopia, India, Sierra Leone, other countries to meet the needs of those desiring children. (Ironically, actress Angelina Jolie who adopted a boy from a Cambodian agency while the US government was investigating charges of corruption, and a girl from Ethiopia whose mother, according to media reports, wanted her back, wrote a blurb for Half the Sky calling it "a model for those fighting for justice.")

THE DOOR TO WIDESPREAD ABUSE

While a poor economy and government efforts to end corruption led to a decline in international adoption, from a high of 23,000 in 2004 to less than 10,000 in 2010, the industry is attempting a comeback through the North Korean Refugee Adoption Act of 2012. Having been passed the US House of Representatives, the bill (H.R. 1464) is in the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. While it purports to be dealing with North Korean refugee orphans living in South Korea and China, it opens the door to widespread abuse. According to adoptive father Prof. Dave Smolin, the bill "supplies a broad end-run around normal nationality, immigration, and Hague [Treaty] safeguards." Readers are urged to contact their Senators to oppose this bill.

Approximately 15,000 American women a year relinquish their infants to adoption at a rate that greatly exceeds that of western Europe and Australia. Some mothers are seduced into surrendering their children through false promises of openness and exaggerated pictures of glittering futures for themselves and their children. Mothers are unaware about the pain they and their child will suffer for the rest of their lives. Agencies do not make crystal clear that nearly all open adoption "contracts" are not enforceable, and that relying on the agency to be the go-between gives the mother no recourse at all if the parents renege on their promise of photos, updates and visitation. Others are coerced by relatives or religious authorities into giving up their children

Wealthy westerners hire women, often poor women in India, to do the scut work of child-bearing--carrying the child for nine months, suffering the pains of labor, and risking death in the process—and then turn the baby over to those who paid for the service. In some cases the “carrier” is also the genetic mother. FMF has no problem with women who carry babies for close friends or relatives, but paying women the equivalent of a few cents an hour to provide this service is pure and simple exploitation.

THE SENSE OF LOSS COMES LATER

Would-be parents use the eggs of fertile women to produce children. Creating these requires "donors" (who are normally paid) to have strong hormones injected into their bodies and undergo surgery, risking their lives in the process. Women selling their eggs are often college students--the fertility industry recruits heavily from Ivy League--seeking funds to pay for their education. They may be are unaware of the health risks of the procedures, and the sense of loss they may suffer, as they become aware that there are children out there—somewhere--with their looks, their abilities, and their interests, who, when grown, who may search for them, needing to know their origins.

Just as with the abuses profiled in Half the Sky, reproductive exploitation reflects powerlessness of women, especially poor women. Like sex traders, the adoption and fertility industries make billions of dollars off of vulnerable women. Victims of reproductive exploitation may not realize they are victims, just as some women whose genitals were cut force their daughters to undergo the same painful and dangerous procedure. It's not just men who are doing the exploiting. Industries which profit from women's fertility often employ women as counselors and medical personal, just as many brothel owners and those who do genital cutting are women.

I’ve seen huge changes for American women in my lifetime. Practices that were accepted just a few years ago are abhorrent to many today: dismissing rape victims as “asking for it,” paying women less than men for the same job, discouraging women from going to college or pursuing a profession because “they’ll just get married,” shaming single mothers to give up their babies.

We still have a long way to go. Women still make about 70 percent of what men make and morons like Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin claim women have natural defenses against getting pregnant when raped legitimately. Reproductive exploitation should join the list of abuses we need to end.--Jane

Watch part one online through October 8 and part two through October 9.
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To donate to Half the Sky movement: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

Lorraine here: I'm going to use this opportunity to talk about my favorite charity, Women for Women (a partner of Half the Sky) which provides direct financial aid and vocational training to women, as well as support them emotionally as they go from victim to survivor in countries riven with war around the world. A monthly donation of under $30 goes to an individual woman, whom you may write. I've gotten amazing letters from the women I have supported in Afghanistan. You can choose your country, or just sign up for location of greatest need. Women for Women.

And yes, that is a book of mine above: Still Unequal: The Shameful Truth About Women and Justice in America "Dusky's book is simply the very best book of it's kind, bar none. She explains complex issues in amazingly clear language....required reading for all those who are passionate about justice: civilians, lawyers, judges, law professors, ethicists, feminists of both genders, Women's Studies professors and students. I have used this book in a Forensic Psychology graduate class and it was the best textbook we could have had." Phyllis Chesler, Ph.D Amazon

See also
The Fiction of the North Korean Refugee Orphan

HR 1464
Angelina Jolie
Our partners - India Surrogacy Partners - Surrogacy Agencies in India
Overseas adoption: child welfare or abuse?

From FMF
Foreign Adoptions aren't Plunging Fast Enough  

The Global Trade in Adoptions Continues to Boom

Call it what it is: Child Trafficking as "Adoption"
High number of adoptions in the US is a national disgrace
Egg Donor or Egg Seller? Fulfilling Another Woman's dream or Lining your Pockets?
Akin, GOP to women: We are in charge of your bodies, no exceptions for rape

The Dark Side of Adoption: "Although not an easy book for an adoptive parent to read, this is certainly an important book for anyone striving to understand all sides of the adoption triangle. The good news (for adoptive parents) is that Riben is not slamming adoptive parents...her really big guns are leveled at The System. I recommend that adoptive parents read this book." Gigi Wirtz, Families Adopting Children Everywhere (FACE).