Reproductive Exploitation Under American Slaveryv
Reproductive Exploitation Under American Slavery After the United States banned the international slave trade in 1808, enslavers could no longer legally import Africans. From that point forward, the enslaved population grew primarily through natural increase — meaning the children of enslaved women automatically became enslaved under the legal doctrine of partus sequitur ventrem (a child follows the condition of the mother). This legal rule turned enslaved women’s bodies into self-reproducing assets. By the 1830s–1860s: Enslaved women of childbearing age were often valued higher than men. Plantation records sometimes listed the number of children a woman had borne. Some enslavers deliberately encouraged or coerced pregnancies to increase their “stock.” Historians refer to this as reproductive exploitation, not because every plantation used identical practices, but because the economic system structurally rewarded forced fertility. The Word “Breeder” The term “breeder” did appear in som...