Kehinde Temitayo Soetan

Examining the Historical Legacy of Medical Experimentation on Black Women’s Bodies: Ethical Implications and Racial Disparities in Modern Medicine

Kehinde Temitayo Soetan

The Ohio State University

kehindesoetan3@gmail.com

The history of medicine has not only focused on advancements in discoveries of medical procedures on diagnosis, surgeries and reformation of health policies such as informed consent and patient rights, but it has also revealed the historical foundations of racial bias such as reproductive injustice in American medical practices. The historical legacy of racism in medical practices continues to impact the reproductive health of black women. Several medical researchers such as Harriet Washington have examined medical experimentation of black women’s bodies, particularly their reproductive system in the antebellum period as racial disparity in the history of medicine. Washington’s historical exploration of medical experimentation of black women is valuable to my research because it discusses unethical medical experimentation of black women as systemic issues that affect black women. Through the lens of Washington’s Medical Apartheid, this paper totally agrees with and critically analyzes Washington’s argument regarding unethical medical experimentation of black women’s bodies in the antebellum period as reproductive injustice affirming that the historical foundation of medical racism continuously influences racial disparities in the contemporary healthcare system. The ongoing racial disparities in medical practices manifests in various ways, including inadequate pain management, and high rate of maternal mortality. Although notable developments have been made on ethical standards in medical practices, the historical foundation of racism in medicine still remains a critical issue that should not be underemphasized. Therefore, this paper addresses the necessity for revisiting medical racism in the past to fully understand its impacts on contemporary medicine.

Keywords: antebellum period, history of medicine, medical racism, black women, reproductive health

BIOGRAPHY

Kehinde Temitayo Soetan is a graduate student at The Ohio State University. She is pursuing a Master’s of Arts in Medical Humanities. Her research explores the intersections between literature, history of medicine, public health, climate change and social justice. With an interdisciplinary background she considers global perspectives of women's health and the history of reproductive injustice in the American healthcare system. In her previous master’s degree at North Dakota State University, she focused on examining how race, gender and immigration impact mental health in Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom. This research is a commitment to understanding systemic oppression and the necessity of intersecting social identities of the minority group. Kehinde brings cultural awareness and interdisciplinary lens to research and advocacy. With additional training in global health policy and arts-based health research, Kehinde is deeply engaged in projects addressing how climate change impacts women’s reproductive health. Committed to Arts in Health, she writes poetry and fiction centered on women’s communal experiences from the perspectives of health, and environmental justice.