from the book Cunt by Inga Muscio
"Once upon a time there was something called the IUD. This stands for intrauterine device. the IUD was implanted in women's uteruses and inhibited the natural growth and shedding of the uterine lining. it made the uterus an inhospitable place for an egg. IUDs caused uterine cancer, infertility and-when they didn't cause death-tore the insides of many women's bodies asunder.
after wreaking havoc on hundreds of thousands of american women's uteruses and lives, an IUD called the dalkon sheild was finally taken off the market in 1976. this was not an act of graciousness on the part of a. h. robins (the corporation responsible for the dalkon sheild). they were removed from the american market because six hundred lawsuits were pending against the company. these six hundred were but a spit in the ocean compared to the 306,931 lawsuits filed by 1986. and these three hundred thousand-plus lawsuits represented a mere 8% of women potentially harmed by the device(bloss, cornell, moon, tomish, "the dalkon sheild," 1997)
meanwhile, what do you do with 697,000 surplus IUDs? the instruments of terror were sold to USAID(united states agency for international development) these 697,000 IUDs were then "distributed"-willingly or not, i couldn't venture to say-to women in impovershed nations, who, unlike american women, did not have the relative luxury of a legal system. (raymond, 1993, 15)"
-inga muscio
"Once upon a time there was something called the IUD. This stands for intrauterine device. the IUD was implanted in women's uteruses and inhibited the natural growth and shedding of the uterine lining. it made the uterus an inhospitable place for an egg. IUDs caused uterine cancer, infertility and-when they didn't cause death-tore the insides of many women's bodies asunder.
after wreaking havoc on hundreds of thousands of american women's uteruses and lives, an IUD called the dalkon sheild was finally taken off the market in 1976. this was not an act of graciousness on the part of a. h. robins (the corporation responsible for the dalkon sheild). they were removed from the american market because six hundred lawsuits were pending against the company. these six hundred were but a spit in the ocean compared to the 306,931 lawsuits filed by 1986. and these three hundred thousand-plus lawsuits represented a mere 8% of women potentially harmed by the device(bloss, cornell, moon, tomish, "the dalkon sheild," 1997)
meanwhile, what do you do with 697,000 surplus IUDs? the instruments of terror were sold to USAID(united states agency for international development) these 697,000 IUDs were then "distributed"-willingly or not, i couldn't venture to say-to women in impovershed nations, who, unlike american women, did not have the relative luxury of a legal system. (raymond, 1993, 15)"
-inga muscio