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Flagging an Invisible Difference in a Cost-Benefit Analysis of Depo-Provera

DifferenTakes Series
50 ~ Reproductive Technologies
[PDF Version]
By Aline Gubrium and Amy E. Ferrer

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In1995 medical ethicist Mary P. Battin suggested a "thought-experiment"for young women, that from menarche through the age of 17, young women be inoculated with a long-term contraceptive as a way to prevent pregnancy.1 Like tetanus, diphtheria, and polio, Battin positioned teen pregnancy as a health risk that might be prevented. If all girls received a vaccine against pregnancy, they would be safe from the harm incurred from having a child.

Battin's proposal caused discomfort for at least one read-
er. Jose Barzelatto, then director of the Ford Foundation's
Reproductive Health and Population Program, fervently
disagreed with the idea that all young women be contraceptively vaccinated: "This disregard for the importance of education and access to information, combined with the coercive nature of a policy that requires all adolescents to be "protected" implies a form of government or social control that is incompatible with ideas of democracy and respect for individuals."

Aline Gubrium is an assistant professor of Community Health Studies in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. As an anthropologist, Dr. Gubrium is presently exploring the narrative and socio-cultural dimensions of women and Latino youth’s reproductive and sexual health experiences.

Amy E. Ferrer is a master’s degree candidate at the Center for Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Amy is currently working on a capstone project on LGBT issues in school sexuality education. She has previously worked in non-profit public health administration and is active in movements for reproductive justice.