ACB Media Calendar

Watch a film that describes the actions of the ten Latina women who were the plaintiffs in the Madrigal, et al V. Quilligan, et al class action lawsuit that resulted in major changes and protections of a woman’s right to determine the size of her family and to give informed consent. Among numerous other patients of the Los Angeles County General Hospital, the ten women who agreed to be the plaintiffs and bring the lawsuit in their names did not realize that they had been irreversibly surgically sterilized until they were interviewed by the attorneys who later brought the lawsuit. They were lower middle class Spanish-speaking women who lived with their husbands and children and who were not receiving public benefits to support themselves and their children. None had participated in a rally or demonstration for women’s rights. The lawsuit moved ahead during the time that women’s rights began to be recognized and protected and the ten women were in the forefront of these advances. The documentary also touches on the search for, and securing of, the five experts who testified at the trial regarding the circumstances under which the plaintiffs had sterilization procedures performed on them unaware. The documentary, produced by Renee Tajima-Pena and Virginia Espino, was initially shown on the Public Broadcasting System nationally and made a major contribution to the women’s movement, even though the ten plaintiffs went largely unrecognized or honored for their major contribution to advancing women’s rights. Full session listing: https://acbconvention.org/?p=127