Compulsory Sterilisation and Reproductive Injustice in India: The Global Impact of the American Eugenics Movement

On 8 November 2014, Dr RK Gupta performed eighty-three tubal ligations at a makeshift clinic in Bilaspur, India — thirteen of which resulted in death. The women, most of whom belonged to the Dalit or “untouchable” caste, were recruited by family planning agencies, lured in by cash incentives or other gifts in exchange for sterilisation. Sadly, however, the Bilaspur tragedy does not exist in isolation — but rather belongs to an extensive history of government-sponsored abuse, the majority of which has been directly led by white, Western powers. Funded by the New York-based Population Council, India was one of the first countries to implement measures of population control in 1952 and has since led multiple mass sterilisation campaigns against its poorest and most marginalised. In examining the history of compulsory sterilisation in India and its connections to the American eugenics movement, this thesis aims to shed light on the longevity of colonialist attitudes surrounding race, gender, class, and location.