Locating the voices of the sterilized

Scholars have been studying eugenics and sterilization for years, but only recently have some begun to examine these issues from the point of view of those sterilized. This is in large part because so few records containing the voices of the sterilized exist or are accessible to scholars. This essay examines my own effort to recover the voices of women sterilized in the post-baby boom United States from the "bottom up" and includes my own experience researching and writing Fit to Be Tied?: Sterilization and Reproductive Rights in America, 1960-1984. It represents the beginning of a discussion about locating and using sources containing the voices of the sterilized and working with the limitations inherent to them.