University of Illinois Press Hajo, C: Birth Control on Main Street

Unearthing individual stories and statistical records from previously overlooked birth control clinics, Cathy Moran Hajo looks past the rhetoric of the birth control movement to show the relationships, politics, and issues that defined the movement in neighborhoods and cities across the United States. Whereas previous histories have emphasized national trends and glossed over the majority of clinics, Birth Control on Main Street contextualizes individual case studies to add powerful new layers to the existing narratives on abortion, racism, eugenics, and sterilization. Hajo infuses her analysis of the practical and medical issues of the clinics with unique stories of activists who negotiated with community groups and navigated the swirling debates about how birth control centers should be controlled, who should receive care, and how patients should be treated. ...