They came to have their babies. They went home sterilized.
No Más Bebés is the story of immigrant mothers who were pushed into sterilizations while giving birth at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center during the 1970s. Alongside intrepid young Mexican American lawyers, and armed with hospital records secretly gathered by a whistle-blowing doctor, the mothers faced public exposure and stood up to powerful institutions in their fight for reproductive justice. Their campaign galvanized the early Chicana feminist movement and led to the landmark lawsuit Madrigal v. Quilligan. Produced and directed by Renee Tajima-Peña, produced by Virginia Espino.
SCREENINGS + AWARDS
PBS “Independent Lens” broadcast – PBS “The WORLD” broadcast – Emmy Award nomination, Best Historical Documentary – John E. Connor Film Award, American Historical Association, Best Documentary – Organization of American Historians, Erik Barnouw Award – Video Librarian, Best Documentary – AFI Docs – Austin Film Festival – Los Angeles Film Festival
“A stunning new documentary.”
Salon
“Essential viewing.”
Boston Globe
“It's about time people knew what really happened.”
Huffington Post
“The fight for reproductive justice is a fight for humanity, a fight to define personal worth through the ability to have autonomy over one’s body. Documentary “No Mas Bebes," directed by Renee Tajima-Peña, is a beautiful depiction of this, and a definitive reinserting of the voices and experiences of women of color into this ongoing struggle. The film tells the shocking story of Latina women who were sterilized without informed consent at the LA USC Medical Center in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Often women were forced to sign papers consenting to tubal ligation while they were in active labor, and given forms in English that they could not read. Many of these women were having complications with their labor, and were told they would die if they didn’t sign. The film interviews ten Latina women who sued the hospital for denying their human rights, as well as the whistleblowing doctor who brought attention to the issue, and their lawyer, a young Latina herself, who took on the system to assert these women’s rights. This incredibly moving story details how this lawsuit brought about regulatory change and exposes this all-too-recent horrific and biased practice. These women, sterilized against their consent in their early 20s and 30s demonstrate incredible strength of character in fighting for the right of all women to choose how and when they want to have children.”
Indiewire
