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For Rosa Reveals The Ugly History Of Forced Sterilizations

“We’re still here,” Kathryn Boyd-Batstone, the filmmaker behind For Rosa, tells Refinery29, referencing our nation’s lack of progress when it comes to reproductive justice. Premiering May 1 on HBO, the short film follows the story of one Latina and her decision to become part of the Madrigal 10, a group of mothers who filed a class-action lawsuit against L.A. County-USC Medical Center in the 1970s, helping to define informed consent and stop the hospital’s eugenics-informed practice of forced sterilizations of women of color. Although For Rosa takes place some 50 years ago, forced sterilization is hardly a thing of the past. Last year, it was reported that ICE was performing mass hysterectomies on migrant women at one of its Georgia detention centers. The year before, Indigenous women in Canada joined together to sue the country’s national health system, citing documented cases of sterilization occurring up until as recently as 2018. In California, 1,400 women, most of them Black, were forcibly sterilized in prisons between 1997 and 2014. Puerto Rico is still dealing with the legacy of mass sterilizations and the continued disparities around reproductive justice. Whether forced sterilizations are happening in California, Canada, the Czech Republic, or China, they represent a kind of genocide, a way to kill a people quietly while pretending to offer patients medical care. For Rosa brings this heartbreaking reality to life. The film takes us back to what happened in Los Angeles when doctors performed tubal litigations on Latinas, specifically mothers undergoing emergency C-sections, targeting them because of their vulnerability and the fact that they were already getting surgery. Sometimes doctors performed these sterilizations without the patient’s knowledge or consent or after coercing women with tactics like withholding pain medication until the mothers-to-be gave their permission for the procedure. According to Boyd-Batstone, the hospital in question in the 1978 Madrigal v. Quilligan case had gotten a “$2 billion grant to help with family-planning and ‘help’ with the rates of Black and brown families in the area.” They did it using English-only forms and nurses with limited Spanish proficiency, pretending that was enough for women many of whom were in active labor to give informed consent. This was during a time in American history when fears of “welfare queens” taking too many resources, Latinas and other women of color having too many babies, and low-income women of color generally taking advantage of the system abounded among many white people. While the judge ruled in favor of the doctors, the Madrigal 10 helped to change laws and practices. The California Department of Health revised its sterilization guidelines, and the California State Legislature repealed the state’s sterilization law. This was only possible thanks to the efforts put forth by these courageous women. These 10 Latinas, who’d been sterilized without their consent, risked stigma, shame, and violence to come forward and testify. Their young, Latina attorney Antonia Hernández didn’t let age or lack of resources stop her from taking on this complicated, important case. “She was 26 when she started the case, having just graduated from UCLA, working her first job at the legal aid office,” says Boyd-Batstone. “They weren’t really giving her funding, and she had the conviction to go up against the court system and defend [and organize] these women who are all older than her and have children.” For Rosa focuses on the women’s decision to take action, despite the risks involved. The film’s heroine Eva, played by Melinna Bobadilla, is a young mother who’s looking forward to having a second kid and feels the pressure to live up to her community’s expectations to have a big family. The filmmakers also paid attention to the discrimination faced by Black and brown women, portraying how women with darker skin and more Afro- or Indigenous features were targeted. Boyd-Batstone, a white woman, says she and Bobadilla had “a lot of discussion” about racism. Bobadilla shared her personal experiences as a Xicana in Hollywood. It was important to both of them that For Rosa was not another “story centered around trauma [and] disparity,” says Boyd-Batstone. Instead, it’s a humanizing look at one woman’s strength and impact: “It doesn’t matter what your opinions on reproductive justice or racism [are]. You can connect with [Eva],” adds the filmmaker. This empathy is key to creating change. At the time, the Madrigal 10 was supported by a mass movement with rallies and protests, featuring Black and brown women on the posters, and magazine articles with titles like “Chicanos for Welfare.” Latinos were coming together to organize at a time in which society was criminalizing them. Together with a few whistleblowers at the hospital, this cross-racial group of plaintiffs, their attorney, activists, and organizers were able to make real change. They didn’t eradicate white fears about changing demographics or even win their court case, but they did make California change its system to better protect the rights of women of color. For Rosa ends before the court case begins, but Boyd-Batstone reveals she is working on a feature-length film to bring the story of the Madrigal 10 to even more people. As forced sterilizations continue and women’s sexual and reproductive health remains in jeopardy, we need to share these narratives of how individuals and communities came together and made real change. If we forget the history of the Madrigal 10, it’s at our own peril. Speaking about her granddaughter, one of the real-life Madrigal 10 women Consuelo Hermosillo told NPR, “I want her to have liberty in doing what she wants, going to school wherever she wants, [deciding] how many kids she wants.” It’s a simple wish, and one we are still failing to achieve for far too many women of color. Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

LOS ANGELES (REUTERS) – Olympia Dukakis, who won an Oscar for her performance as a sardonic, middle-aged mother who advises her headstrong daughter on matters of love in the 1987 romantic film comedy “Moonstruck,” died on Saturday (May 1) at age 89.

Dukakis – a cousin of unsuccessful 1988 Democratic US presidential nominee Michael Dukakis – passed away at her New York City home on Saturday morning after months of failing health, said her agent, Allison Levy. Her daughter, Christina Zorich, was by her side.

The Massachusetts-born daughter of Greek immigrants, Dukakis worked for decades as a stage, TV and film actor before rocketing to fame at age 56 playing the mother of Cher’s character in Moonstruck.

Dukakis built on that with roles in films including Look Who’s Talking (1989) and its sequels with John Travolta and Kirstie Alley, Steel Magnolias (1989) with Shirley MacLaine, Sally Field and Julia Roberts, director Woody Allen’s Mighty Aphrodite (1995) and Mr Holland’s Opus (1995) with Richard Dreyfuss.

Dukakis, a master of deadpan humour, also was nominated for Emmy awards for TV roles in 1991, 1998 and 1999.

But her most indelible performance came in director Norman Jewison’s Moonstruck as Rose Castorini, a Brooklyn woman with a cheating plumber husband (Vincent Gardenia) and a widowed bookkeeper daughter (Cher) who has an affair with her fiance’s opera-buff brother (Nicolas Cage).

Her banter with Cher was among the film’s highlights, including a scene in which Dukakis scolded her daughter during a kitchen dissection of her love life.

“Your life’s going down the toilet,” Dukakis said in her throaty voice.

At another point, she tells Cher it is good she did not love her fiance. “When you love them, they drive you crazy because they know they can.”

Moonstruck, considered one of Hollywood’s great romantic comedies, won three Academy Awards, including Cher as best actress, and was nominated in three other categories, including best picture. It also was one of the highest-grossing films of 1987.

In accepting her Oscar as best supporting actress in April 1988, when her cousin was battling to become the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, she thanked Jewison, her husband and a few others.

She then raised the golden statuette over her head and shouted to the worldwide TV audience, “OK, Michael, let’s go.”

Michael Dukakis won the nomination but lost badly in the general election to Republican George H.W. Bush. Olympia Dukakis embraced liberal views like her cousin, advocating for causes including women’s rights, gay rights and the environment.

Dukakis was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, on June 20, 1931 and continued to act into her 80s.

Referring to becoming a movie star at an age when many actresses have a hard time finding good roles, Dukakis told the Guardian newspaper in 2012, “Who knows how that happened? Chance, fate or a bit of both. But I’m very glad I did Moonstruck. It meant that I woke up the next day and was finally able to pay the bills.”

Dukakis said she enjoyed her fame after Moonstruck.

“The fun part is that people pass me on the street and yell lines from my movies,” she told the Los Angeles Times in 1991. “For Moonstruck they say, ‘You’re life is going down the toilet.'”

Her TV appearances included playing a transgender landlady in the 1993 miniseries Armistead Maupin’s Tales Of The City and its 1998 and 2001 follow-ups.

Other films included Cloudburst (2011) playing a foul-mouthed lesbian, Away From Her (2006) with Julie Christie, The Event (2003), Better Living (1998) with Roy Scheider, Never Too Late (1996) with Cloris Leachman, and Dad (1989) with Jack Lemmon and Ted Danson.

Dukakis married fellow actor Louis Zorich in 1962, with whom she had two sons and a daughter. Her husband passed away in 2018. She also had four grandchildren.

Olympia Dukakis, who won an Oscar for her performance as a sardonic, middle-aged mother who advises her headstrong daughter on matters of love in the 1987 romantic film comedy “Moonstruck,” died on Saturday at age 89.

Dukakis – a cousin of unsuccessful 1988 Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Michael Dukakis – passed away at her New York City home on Saturday morning after months of failing health, said her agent, Allison Levy. Her daughter, Christina Zorich, was by her side. The Massachusetts-born daughter of Greek immigrants, Dukakis worked for decades as a stage, TV and film actor before rocketing to fame at age 56 playing the mother of Cher’s character in “Moonstruck.”

Dukakis built on that with roles in films including “Look Who’s Talking” (1989) and its sequels with John Travolta and Kirstie Alley, “Steel Magnolias” (1989) with Shirley MacLaine, Sally Field and Julia Roberts, director Woody Allen’s “Mighty Aphrodite” (1995) and “Mr Holland’s Opus” (1995) with Richard Dreyfuss. Dukakis, a master of deadpan humour, also was nominated for Emmy awards for TV roles in 1991, 1998 and 1999.

But her most indelible performance came in director Norman Jewison’s “Moonstruck” as Rose Castorini, a Brooklyn woman with a cheating plumber husband (Vincent Gardenia) and a widowed bookkeeper daughter (Cher) who has an affair with her fiance’s opera-buff brother (Nicolas Cage). Her banter with Cher was among the film’s highlights, including a scene in which Dukakis scolded her daughter during a kitchen dissection of her love life.

“Your life’s going down the toilet,” Dukakis said in her throaty voice. At another point, she tells Cher it is good she did not love her fiance. “When you love them, they drive you crazy because they know they can.”

“Moonstruck,” considered one of Hollywood’s great romantic comedies, won three Academy Awards, including Cher as best actress, and was nominated in three other categories, including best picture. It also was one of the highest-grossing films of 1987. In accepting her Oscar as best supporting actress in April 1988, when her cousin was battling to become the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, she thanked Jewison, her husband and a few others.

She then raised the golden statuette over her head and shouted to the worldwide TV audience, “OK, Michael, let’s go.” Michael Dukakis won the nomination but lost badly in the general election to Republican George H.W. Bush. Olympia Dukakis embraced liberal views like her cousin, advocating for causes including women’s rights, gay rights and the environment.

Dukakis was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, on June 20, 1931 and continued to act into her 80s. Referring to becoming a movie star at an age when many actresses have a hard time finding good roles, Dukakis told the Guardian newspaper in 2012, “Who knows how that happened? Chance, fate or a bit of both. But I’m very glad I did ‘Moonstruck.’ It meant that I woke up the next day and was finally able to pay the bills.”

Dukakis said she enjoyed her fame after “Moonstruck.” “The fun part is that people pass me on the street and yell lines from my movies,” she told the Los Angeles Times in 1991. “For ‘Moonstruck’ they say, ‘Your life is going down the toilet.'”

Her TV appearances included playing a transgender landlady in the 1993 miniseries “Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City” and its 1998 and 2001 follow-ups. Other films included “Cloudburst” (2011) playing a foul-mouthed lesbian, “Away from Her” (2006) with Julie Christie, “The Event” (2003), “Better Living” (1998) with Roy Scheider, “Never Too Late” (1996) with Cloris Leachman, and “Dad” (1989) with Jack Lemmon and Ted Danson.

Dukakis married fellow actor Louis Zorich in 1962, with whom she had two sons and a daughter. Her husband passed away in 2018. She also had four grandchildren.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)