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The Existential Static Podcast
ILRC RED CARDS - https://www.ilrc.org/red-cards-tarjetas-rojas
IMMIGRATION RESOURCES - https://www.cortezmasto.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/media/doc/Immigration%20Resources_English.pdf
Hi. I host a podcast. Why? Great question. Mostly because talking to myself in a room without recording it started to seem a little... sad.
This podcast is where I try to make sense of the world or at least pretend I can through semi-coherent rambling, unsolicited opinions, and the occasional guest who actually knows what they're talking about. Think of it as therapy, but without the copay. Or the healing.
I’m not here to change your life, solve your problems, or pretend I have it all figured out. I’m here because microphones are cheaper than therapists, and people seem to listen more when you call it “content.”
The Existential Static Podcast
Test Subjects. The Dark History of Birth Control Trials in Puerto Rico.
Before the pill was approved for women in the U.S., it was tested on poor Puerto Rican women.
In the 1950s, researchers ran large scale trials of the first birth control pill on women in Puerto Rico. They were told it would prevent pregnancy.
What they weren’t told?
- The pill was experimental.
- It came with dangerously high doses of hormones.
- There were severe side effects—and three women died, without autopsies.
This is the story of how colonialism and medicine collided, using women’s bodies as experiments.
In this episode of Existential Static, we break down the Puerto Rico birth control trials, the racist and colonial logic behind them, and how these patterns still echo in reproductive health today.
Because history like this doesn’t go away, it repeats.