In "Colonialism, Catholicism, and Contraception", Annette B. Ramirez de Arellano and Conrad Seipp (University of North Carolina Press, 1983) describe how, starting in the 1920s, Puerto Rico was exploited as a lab for testing "contraceptives" on human beings (It is noteworthy that these authors did NOT seem to have ethical difficulties with abortifacients/ contraceptives.).
"To many birth controllers, an apirinlike pill that would be unrelated to sexual intercourse and would `immunize' against pregnancy seemed to be the ideal method of birth control" (p. 105). Margaret "Sanger was... successful in obtaining the financing required by the scientists....Dr. [John] Rock agreed that as soon as they were confident of their results, they `should attempt in Puerto Rico certain experiments which would be difficult in this country[sic]'" (pp. 105 - 108).
"In addition to oral contraceptives and Emko foam, intrauterine devices and Depo-Provera were tested in Puerto Rico" (p.131)
"In the early 1960s an inquiry into the prevalence of abortion in Puerto Rico revealed that certain medical establishments were serving an international clientele....In some cases, only the site of the clinic was different from that of pre-Castro Cuba; the doctors were the same, since some of the San Juan clinics were operated by exiled Cuban physicians who had merely transplanted part of their network to Puerto Rico....[By 1967] many on the mainland had the impression that the procedure was legal on the island" (pp. 145, 146).
In 1960, "a group of Catholic laymen organized the Christian Action Party (CAP)....The appeal of the new party was based almost exclusively on its support of religious instruction for public school pupils and its objection to existing legislation on birth control and sterilization....Bishops James P. Davis of San Juan and James E. McManus of Ponce issued a pastoral letter describing the CAP as `the answer to the intolerable attitude' of the island's established political parties.... political controversy was heightened when Francis Cardinal Spellman of New York visited Puerto Rico....Spellman was asked to comment on the bishops' involvement with the CAP. Spellman's diplomatic reply was, `I keep out of politics. It is outside my competence and will,' thereby implying that Davis and McManus should do the same. Scarcely a week later, ...[Bishops Davis and McManus] issued a pastoral letter prohibiting Catholics of Puerto Rico from voting for [Governor] Muniz Marin and the PDP....The focus for episcopal concern was a paragraph suggesting that majority opinion was the determining principle in defining public morality....[The bishops decried] this doctrine of moral relativism....John F. Kennedy, who aspired to be his country's first Catholic president, quickly reacted to the pastoral letter, calling the bishops' action `wholly improper'....the Kennedys attempted to quarantine the Puerto Rican dispute. Subsequent declarations of several distinguished Catholic prelates accomplished both aims" (pp. 150 - 153). By 1965, Bishops Davis and McManus were gone, as was their style. Henceforth, "the church was vigilant but not vocal" (p. 160).
When asked about making contraceptives part of economic aid in 1959, President Eisenhower responded that "I cannot imagine anything more emphatically a subject that is not a proper political or government activity or function or responsibility....That's not our business'....by 1965 birth control had become part of the federal government's business" (p. 160).
"To many birth controllers, an apirinlike pill that would be unrelated to sexual intercourse and would `immunize' against pregnancy seemed to be the ideal method of birth control" (p. 105). Margaret "Sanger was... successful in obtaining the financing required by the scientists....Dr. [John] Rock agreed that as soon as they were confident of their results, they `should attempt in Puerto Rico certain experiments which would be difficult in this country[sic]'" (pp. 105 - 108).
"In addition to oral contraceptives and Emko foam, intrauterine devices and Depo-Provera were tested in Puerto Rico" (p.131)
"In the early 1960s an inquiry into the prevalence of abortion in Puerto Rico revealed that certain medical establishments were serving an international clientele....In some cases, only the site of the clinic was different from that of pre-Castro Cuba; the doctors were the same, since some of the San Juan clinics were operated by exiled Cuban physicians who had merely transplanted part of their network to Puerto Rico....[By 1967] many on the mainland had the impression that the procedure was legal on the island" (pp. 145, 146).
In 1960, "a group of Catholic laymen organized the Christian Action Party (CAP)....The appeal of the new party was based almost exclusively on its support of religious instruction for public school pupils and its objection to existing legislation on birth control and sterilization....Bishops James P. Davis of San Juan and James E. McManus of Ponce issued a pastoral letter describing the CAP as `the answer to the intolerable attitude' of the island's established political parties.... political controversy was heightened when Francis Cardinal Spellman of New York visited Puerto Rico....Spellman was asked to comment on the bishops' involvement with the CAP. Spellman's diplomatic reply was, `I keep out of politics. It is outside my competence and will,' thereby implying that Davis and McManus should do the same. Scarcely a week later, ...[Bishops Davis and McManus] issued a pastoral letter prohibiting Catholics of Puerto Rico from voting for [Governor] Muniz Marin and the PDP....The focus for episcopal concern was a paragraph suggesting that majority opinion was the determining principle in defining public morality....[The bishops decried] this doctrine of moral relativism....John F. Kennedy, who aspired to be his country's first Catholic president, quickly reacted to the pastoral letter, calling the bishops' action `wholly improper'....the Kennedys attempted to quarantine the Puerto Rican dispute. Subsequent declarations of several distinguished Catholic prelates accomplished both aims" (pp. 150 - 153). By 1965, Bishops Davis and McManus were gone, as was their style. Henceforth, "the church was vigilant but not vocal" (p. 160).
When asked about making contraceptives part of economic aid in 1959, President Eisenhower responded that "I cannot imagine anything more emphatically a subject that is not a proper political or government activity or function or responsibility....That's not our business'....by 1965 birth control had become part of the federal government's business" (p. 160).
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