A lecture hall flooded with Cal State Long Beach students sets the forecast for a typical day of Science 300 classes or a general education math course — but the setting in the Peterson Hall 1 140 lecture hall on Wednesday had students gathering for a different purpose.
The documentary “No Mas Bebes” was screened yesterday at 6 p.m.. The free event included an introduction by documentary producer Virginia Espino and was organized by the Sociology Student Association and sponsored by student organizations such as La Raza Student Association and Chicano/a Latino/a Studies Student Association,.
The film discussed the forced sterilization of dozens of Mexican immigrant women, who were subjected to tubal ligation shortly after giving birth in the Los Angeles County USC Medical Center during the ‘60s and early ‘70s. “No Más Bebés” shared the accounts of both women who were coerced into being forcefully sterilized after labor as well as the doctors who oversaw these operations.
This documentary followed the lawsuit that a small group of Mexican women held against the LA County USC Medical Center doctors.
The hour-and-19-minute-long film was followed by a Q&A in which students were able to ask Espino questions about her creative process, her inspiration for the film and her current sentiments regarding reproductive justice issues among women of color.
“People always ask me, whenever I talk about this history, they ask me: ‘Do you think it could happen again?’ And before, I was pretty confident in saying: ‘I don’t think so, I think times have changed, it’s different now,’” Espino said during the Q&A.
She said that her previous opinion shifted since, especially considering the current state of the Presidential Election and the prevalence of Donald Trump.
”I think there is a decadent threat in kind of that ideology of white supremacy. White supremacy definitely led to these kinds of sterilization. In history, California’s the state with the most sterilizations — not just among women of color, also of the ‘mentally challenged’ or ‘unfit’ people who are viewed by society as not valuable,” Espino said.
Espino addressed the broad umbrella that is reproductive justice, and said that “No Mas Bebes” not only addresses the question of whether or a woman can only have a right to an abortion, but other intersectional issues regarding women and their bodies.
Senior sociology major Fatima Chavez facilitated the event. Chavez is a member of the Sociology Student Association and helped organize the event in collaboration with other student leaders on campus.
“This film shows how intersectionality and so many different identities function together and are used to oppress people through this very white, capitalistic society that doesn’t really value, sometimes, our voices and our lives and our decision making,” Chavez said.
The event came to a close after Chavez gifted Espino a potted plant and a thank-you card signed by organizers of the event. The students flooded to the front of the lecture hall to speak with Espino personally, thanking her for her visit and ending the night with a few communal group photos.