"Abortions under community control": Feminism, nationalism, and the politics of reproduction among New York City's Young Lords (Puerto-Rican Americans)

This study of New York City's Young Lords reveals that a multiracial group of Puerto Ricans developed a unique radical politics during the early 1970s that encompassed both feminism and nationalism. Furthermore, the Young Lor ds' singular brand of politics produced an inclusive reproductive rights ag enda that influences (socialist) feminist politics later in the decade. The Young Lords' list of reproductive freedoms included demands for legal abor tion and contraception, an end to sterilization abuse, prenatal and postnat al care for poor women, affordable day care, and an end to the poverty that prevented poor women and women of color from bearing all the healthy child ren they wanted. Although heated conflict between male and female Lords acc ompanied the organizations development of a feminist ideology, the Young Lo rds Party (YLP) successfully integrated feminism into their nationalist per spective.