ABSTRACT
This article focuses on the social, historical and personal conditions that shape, influence and constrain Puerto Rican women’s fertility decisions with respect to sterilization. 1 It examines the reasons why Puerto Rican women have one of the highest documented rates of sterilization in the world by concentrating on the interplay between resistance and constraints and by teasing out some of the contradictions in their reproductive decisions about sterilization. 2 It also highlights the diversity of experiences that sterilized Puerto Rican women have with la operación, the colloquial term used to refer to sterilization among Puerto Rican women.
