Of Inferior Stock: The Two-Pronged Repression of Radical Immigrant Birth Control Advocates at the Turn-of-the Twentieth Century

Authors

Cesar Cuahtemoc Garcia Hernandez

First Page

513

Document Type

Article

Abstract

This article addresses law's coercive function to quash birth control advocacy at the turn-of-the-twentieth century. Part II addresses the development of anti-obscenity legislation, especially at the federal level, to slow quelling support for birth control availability and usage. In particular, the article addresses the trend during the late 1800s in which the states and federal government prohibited sending birth control information or products through the mail. This section also explores the significant harassment, and both actual and threatened prosecution of birth control advocates that resulted from criminal prohibitions. Part III surveys the rampant nativism that swept policymaking circles during this period. This section explores a critical shift in immigration from northern and western Europe to southern and eastern Europe, and the effects of this changing migration on birth control legislation. Lastly, Part IV addresses the convergence of anti-obscenity criminal laws and immigration law to quash birth control advocacy. The political radicalism that spurred much of the early birth control advocacy played a critical role in the governmental response to birth control proponents, many of whom were immigrants. When policymakers determined that criminal laws were not sufficient to keep birth control advocates in jail, mmigration laws were used to deport immigrants who advocated for birth control.

Recommended Citation

Cesar Cuahtemoc Garcia Hernandez, Of Inferior Stock: The Two-Pronged Repression of Radical Immigrant Birth Control Advocates at the Turn-of-the Twentieth Century, 20 St. Thomas L. Rev. 513 (2008).
Available at: https://scholarship.stu.edu/stlr/vol20/iss3/6