Week 12 Reading: Institutional Health Disparities

Sterilization

Between 1907 and 1978, the government targeted institutionalized women and legalized involuntary sterilization

This mostly impacted women of marginalized groups

Soft sterilization: use of long-acting reversible contraceptives, this is still a violation of reproductive autonomy despite being reversible

Carceral state: criminalization process that treats people as criminal even if actions are not inherently illegal

Example of LARC: Tennessee program inserting Nexplanon in women

3 Human Rights of Reproductive Justice

  1. The right to have a child under the conditions of one's own choosing
  1. The right to not have a child using birth control, abortion, or abstinence
  1. The right to parent children in a safe and healthy environment free from violence by individuals or the state

Example of gendered injustice: in 1932 the number of women sterilized under involuntary sterilization exceeded the number of men despite more men being institutionalized

Victims of forced sterilization: criminals, mentally ill, individuals that had children out of wedlock, other "undesirable" groups (minority races/ethnicities)

Criminal Justice

Issue: large black-white health gaps due to connections with criminal justice system

More research is needed on the role of criminal justice system in shaping health outcomes

Problem: Increases in aggressive policing practices and mass incarceration in the United States in recent decades is leading to racial and individual health inequities

There are racial disparities in police stops, arrests, and convictions (disproportionately black and hispanic men)

Short-term health improvements with incarceration due to improved health care access for individuals in prisons and jails

Long-term health issues: higher rates of morbidity from hypertension, STI's, and chronic conditions. Why? 1) Stress-related, 2) Impact of incarceration on SES and financial stability

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4 Gaps in literature

  1. Selection Bias
  1. Misclassification errors
  1. Few Empirical Tests on criminal justice and health
  1. Few studies consider joint health risks