In an earlier piece, I wrote about how women may be among the most adversely affected by the current economic crisis. Little did I know they might be more than just affected, they might be part of Louisiana's own stimulus package, putting thousands of dollars into the hands of poor women for little in return - just their sterilization.
You read that correctly. Representative John LaBruzzo recently announced his recommendation to offer $1,000 to poor women in his Metairie who are willing to have their tubes tied. (To be fair, the offer applies to men willing to have vasectomies as well. LaBruzzo doesn't want to be seen as discriminatory.)
LaBruzzo is a Republican representative who opposes abortion, and favors this solution as poverty assistance since he believes it would reduce "generational welfare." A less publicized aspect of this proposal is that it could, in fact, offer tax incentives to wealthy, educated people in the same district who want to have more children. He believes this is a better solution than some existing programs including job training, education assistance and other mainstream poverty-reduction plans since those apparently just aren't working fast enough.
Maybe this is a good plan, since the Center for American Progress notes that many poor women, who receive Medicaid, are denied abortions even when they are raped. And the Heritage Foundation writes extensively on how welfare harms kids more than it helps them. Well, then - if abortions for poor raped women are inaccessible, and birth control pills and materials can be withheld by pharmacists who find them morally reprehensible, then maybe we ought to think again about this sterilization thing.
Or maybe women should pay very close attention to the items passing through the House and the Senate and think about who is choosing what for whom. Fighting for pay equality, for job creation, for social justice, for safe birth control without sterilization, for reproductive dignity and the right to choose how to treat one's own body - women must undertake all of these tasks, and soon.
Guys like LaBruzzo might effectively argue that $1,000 is a fine incentive for poor women to be sterilized, but let's not forget for one split-second that $1,000 might have looked pretty good to S. Ann Soetoro while she tried to improve her life and her education - so good that her opportunity to bring forth a leader and community organizer might have been sold for a single grand. How much might you sell yours for?