Publications
NEW BOOK
Fighting for Control:
Power, Reproductive Care, and Race in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands
The first birth control clinic in El Paso, Texas, opened in 1937. Since then, Mexican-origin women living in the border cities of El Paso and Ciudad Juárez have confronted various interest groups determined to control their reproductive lives, including a heavily funded international population control campaign led by Planned Parenthood Federation of America as well as the Catholic Church and Mexican American activists. Uncovering nearly one hundred years of struggle, Lina-Maria Murillo reveals how Mexican-origin women on both sides of the border fought to reclaim autonomy and care for themselves and their communities.
Faced with a family planning movement steeped in eugenic ideology, working-class Mexican-origin women strategically demanded additional health services and then formed their own clinics to provide care on their own terms. Along the way, they developed what Murillo calls reproductive care— quotidian acts of community solidarity—as activists organized for better housing, education, wages, as well as access to birth control, abortion, and more. Centering the agency of these women and communities, Murillo lays bare Mexican-origin women’s long battle for human dignity and power in the borderlands as reproductive freedom in Texas once again hangs in the balance.
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REVIEWS
“A groundbreaking and foundational history of Mexican-origin women in the borderlands. Lina-Maria Murillo’s eloquently written and meticulously researched book brings to light this overlooked and marginalized story.”—Miroslava Chávez-García, author of Migrant Longing: Letter Writing across the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands
“Fusing feminist theory, archival sleuthing, and compelling storytelling, Lina-Maria Murillo has crafted an unparalleled history of women’s reproductive health care in the US-Mexico borderlands. By turns heartbreaking and inspiring, Fighting for Control will be discussed for decades to come.”—Vicki L. Ruiz, author of From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth-Century America
“A fresh analysis and critical, transnational perspective on the xenophobic discourses, practices, and worries about Mexican women’s fertility that emerged in the late twentieth century. This book powerfully illustrates the quotidian expressions of compassion, nurturing, and information-sharing that enabled these Mexican women and activists to live in dignity.”—Patricia Zavella, author of The Movement for Reproductive Justice: Empowering Women of Color through Social Activism
“Fighting for Control is a revelation and rewrites the history of birth control in America as we know it. Along the US-Mexico border, in the face of unrelenting eugenic feminism, Mexican-origin women innovated a reproductive justice framework long before a reproductive rights one took root.”—Jennifer L. Holland, author of Tiny You: A Western History of the Anti-Abortion Movement
“Fighting for Control is a riveting narrative that manages to be both sweeping and exquisitely detailed. Murillo brilliantly mobilizes the concept of reproductive care to show how Mexican-origin women navigated the constraints of eugenics, population control, poverty, and injustice across the long twentieth century.”—Alexandra Minna Stern, author of Eugenic Nation: Faults and Frontiers of Better Breeding in Modern America
“Murillo deftly exposes the racist population control ideology that undergirded family planning efforts in the US-Mexico borderlands and how Mexican-origin women claimed their reproductive autonomy. Necessary for anyone engaged in the continued struggle for reproductive justice.”—Natalie Lira, author of Laboratory of Deficiency: Sterilization and Confinement in California, 1910–1950s
REFERRED ARTICLES
Murillo, Lina-Maria. “Fears of White Population Decline: The Politics of Race, Gender, Reproductive Justice, and White Supremacy in the US,” Journal of Gender Studies. (2025): 1–16. doi:10.1080/09589236.2025.2468809.
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“Abortion and Demographic Fears in the Heartland,” in Special Issue for Middle West Review: Post-1965 Midwest. (forthcoming).
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Murillo, Lina-Maria. "Espanta Cigüeñas: Race and Abortion in the US-Mexico Borderlands: Winner of the 2023 Catharine Stimpson Prize for Outstanding Feminist Scholarship." Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 48, no. 4 (2023): 795-823.
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Murillo, Lina-Maria. "A View from Northern Mexico: Abortions before Roe v. Wade." Bulletin of the History of Medicine 97, no. 1 (2023): 30-38.
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Fixmer-Oraiz, Natalie, and Lina-Maria Murillo. "The term ‘life’ should return to us: learning from Latin America’s green wave." Women Language 46 (2023): 275-84.
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Murillo, Lina-Maria. “Birth Control, Border Control: The Movement for Contraception in El Paso, Texas 1936–1940.” Pacific Historical Review; 90, no. 3 (2021): 314–44.
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Murillo, Lina-Maria. (2014). “Birth Control on the Border: Betty Mary Smith Goetting, Margaret Sanger, and the Fight for Birth Control, El Paso, Texas 1937,” PASSWORD 58, no. 3 (2014): 109–14.
BOOK CHAPTERS
Murillo, Lina-Maria. “The Politics of US-Mexico Border Rule and Reproductive (In)Justice,” in The Nursing Clio Reader, Rutgers University Press (September 2025).
​Murillo, Lina-Maria and Natalie Fixmer-Oraiz, “Chapter 48: Reproductive Justice in the Heartland: Mothering, Maternal Care, and Race in Twenty-First Century Iowa,” in Maternal Theory: The Essential Readings, ed. Andrea O’Reilly. Ontario: Demeter Press (2021).
BOOK REVIEWS
Murillo, Lina-Maria. Review of Tiny You: A Western History of the Anti-Abortion Movement, by Jennifer L. Holland. Pacific Historical Review 92 no. 2 (2023): 312-314.
Murillo, L. Review of Chicana Movidas: New Narratives of Activism and Feminism in the Movement Era, edited by Dionne Espinoza, María Eugenia Cotera, and Maylei Blackwell. Pacific Historical Review 88 no. 3 (2019): 472–473.
Murillo, L. Review of Fevered Measures: Public health and race at the Texas-Mexico border, 1848–1942, by John McKiernan-González. Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History 16 no. 3 (2015).
PUBLICATIONS IN PROGRESS
Book - The Army of Three and the Untold History of America’s Abortion Underground. Under review with the University of North Carolina Press.
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Journal - “Men of the Movement: Overpopulation, Eugenics, and Abortion Activism in the Years Before Roe v. Wade,” American Historical Review.
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Book - Reproductive Justice for a Caring Society. Co-authored, Natalie Fixmer-Oraiz and Asha Bhandary. Agenda Publishing Limited.
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Book - Collective Care: Latinas and Health in the 20th Century US. Co-authored, Natalie Lira.
OP-EDS
2025
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Lina-Maria Murillo, "Iowa Edition: Why Is Attacking DEI More Important Than Your Health and Education?"
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2023
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​Lina-Maria Murillo, “Iowa: A Testing Ground for the Handmaid’s Tale-like Policies,” The Gazette.​​
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Co-Authored, Natalie Fixmer-Oraiz and Lina-Maria Murillo. “We Agree with Kim Reynolds on One Thing: Trust Iowans,” Iowa Starting Line.​​
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2022​
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Co-Authored, Natalie Fixmer-Oraiz and Lina-Maria Murillo. “Opinion: Rulings ensure further cruelty from restricting abortion care,” Des Moines Register.
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2021​
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Lina-Maria Murillo, “Before Roe v. Wade, U.S. residents sought safer abortions in Mexico: Transnational networks have long helped pregnant people navigate treatment options,” Washington Post.​​
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Lina-Maria Murillo, “Opinion: A transnational approach to abortion in the Borderland,” El Paso Matters.​​
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2020
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Lina-Maria Murillo, “In the Service of White Supremacy: Immigration and Reproductive Violence,” Notches Blog.​​
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Co-Authored, Lina-Maria Murillo and Natalie Fixmer-Oraiz, “An abortion ban? Now, of all times? Iowa Republican lawmakers are showing they don't value life,” Des Moines Register.​​
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2019
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Co-Authored, Lina-Maria Murillo and Michael K. Bess, “Racismo y justicia en la ficción histórica de Watchmen,” ECOS: Blog de la División de Historia del CIDE. ​​
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Lina-Maria Murillo, “When the ‘Back Alley’ was safe and south of the border,” Rewire News.​​
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2018​
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Lina-Maria Murillo, “Reproductive Freedom along the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands,” Scholars Strategy Network Key Findings Brief. ​​
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Co-Authored, Lina-Maria Murillo and Lauren McIvor Thompson, “The Trump administration’s assault on contraception: A misguided policy will hurt women — and increase abortions.” Washington Post.
PROFESSIONAL BLOGS
2022
“A Return to the Abortion Handbook?” Nursing Clio.
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“Interrogating Our White Supremacist Present: A Roundtable on Global Histories of Racial Supremacy and Reproductive Control,” Notches Blog.
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2020
“In the Service of White Supremacy: Immigration and Reproductive Violence,” Notches Blog.
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Co-creator and faculty advisor for Tell Magazine: A Digital Community for Feminist Inquiry. A peer-reviewed, graduate student-led blog for feminist analysis and thought at the University of Iowa.​
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2018
“Reproductive Freedom along the U.S-Mexico Borderlands,” Scholarship Strategy Network Ket Findings Brief.
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2012
Founding contributor and co-editor, Borderlands History. Contributions range from “Notes” on professional conferences to interviews with major scholars in the fields of borderland, Chicano/a, Latino/a, women’s, and Western History.
PUBLIC SCHOLARSHIP
2025
Obermann Center Symposium: Locating Reproductive Global and Regional Perspectives. (Coorganizer and director)
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2021
Humanities Advisory Team: Standup Speak Out (About — Stand UP Speak OUT)
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Interview: In the Thick (Cross-Border Abortion Care)
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Interview: Scholars’ Circle (ROE V WADE IS LIKELY TO BE OVERTURNED BY US SUPREME COURT)
PODCASTS
“Book Talk: A Conversation with David-James Gonzales,” New Books in Latino Studies Podcast, March 9, 2025.
“A History of Pre-Roe Iowa,” Cornhole Champions, Iowa Starting Line Podcast, Dec. 11, 2024.
“Abortion: The Body Politic, Part 5,” The Katie Couric Podcast, July 7, 2022.
“Women’s Reproductive Health post-Roe,” Scholar’s Circle, May 15, 2022.
“Conversation Six: History of Abortion,” with Lauren McIvor Thompson, 2022.
“2.9 Reproductive Justice Post Roe,” IAPHS Podcast, February 17, 2022.
“Histories of racism and reproductive freedom at the US-Mexico border,” Cuerpa Politica, February 3, 2022
“Roe v. Wade is likely to be overturned by US Supreme Court,” Scholars’ Circle, September 18, 2021.
“Cross-Border Abortion Care,” In the Thick, September 14, 2021.
“Latino/a Studies: Latinx Faculty at University of Iowa,” Imagining Latinidades, March 2020.
RADIO/TELEVISION/NEWSPAPER
“Mexico Has Become a Haven for Americans Seeking an Abortion,” Mother Jones, November 23, 2023.
“Abortion-rights supporters celebrate in Iowa City after Supreme Court ruling,” Iowa Press Citizen, June 17, 2023.
“Abortion at the polls and in the past,” Talk of Iowa on IPR, October 24, 2022.
“For some California Latinos, the abortion debate was not a ‘real conversation’ — until now,” Sacramento Bee, October 22, 2022.
“Abortion rights in Iowa has not always been a political hot button issue,” Iowa Public Radio (IPR), October 10, 2022.
“Are Latino voters really moving right? The end of Roe may muddy the picture,” The Guardian, August 17, 2022.
“Experts weigh in as Iowa awaits 24-hour waiting period ruling,” WeAreIowa, July 8, 2022.
“State abortion bans will push people ‘deeper into poverty,’ professor says,” Marketplace Money Report, June 28, 2022.
“Abortion News Ripples Through the Borderlands,” El Paso Matters, May 23, 2022.
“Canada, Mexico brace for influx of Americans seeking abortions,” The Hill, May 15, 2022.
“Abortions in Mexico? If Roe v. Wade is overturned, women will still have options,” USA Today, April 27, 2022.
“Crossing borders for abortions before Roe v. Wade,” National Public Radio (NPR), October 6, 2021.
SELECT CONFERENCES AND INVITED TALKS
“Fighting for Control: A Conversation with Lina-Maria Murillo,” Keynote, Feminism in the Americas Symposium, Ohio State University, April 2025. [Invited]
“Start to Finish: New Books by ALANA Authors,” Panelist, Organization of American Historians Conference, Illinois, 2025. [Invited]
“La Nueva Margaret Sanger of the Border: Population Control, Contraception and Labor in the US-Mexico Borderlands,” Fifteenth Annual Eric N. Schocket Memorial Lecture on Class and Culture, Hampshire College, Massachusetts, March 2025. [Invited]
“Reproductive Care and Justice in the US-Mexico Borderlands,” Book talk, University of New Mexico, March 2025. [invited]
“Fighting for Control: Power, Reproductive Care, and Race in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands,” Book talk, Yale University, January 2025. [invited]
“Reproductive Freedom: Strategies and Solidarities in Times of Strife,” Panelist, Yale University, Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration, January 2025. [invited]
“Conference on the History of Abortion,” Panelist, Huntington Library, California, January 2025. [invited]
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“Reproductive Justice: Sawyer Seminar in New Orleans,” Tulane University, October 2024. [invited]
“Untold Reproductive Justice Histories at the Intersections of Abortion and Population Control,” Center for Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration at Yale University, October 2024. [invited]
“Chicana Activism and Reproductive Justice in the Borderlands,” Middlebury Institute, California, September 2024. [invited]
“Transnational Networks of Abortion Care,” Reproductive Cultures in Politics in Global and Historical Perspective, University of Washington, April 2024. [invited]
“Demographic Fears and the History of Reproduction in the Midwest,” Iowa Women’s Archive, University of Iowa, March 2024 [invited]
“Abortion and White Population Decline,” Havens Wright Center Visiting Scholar, University of Wisconsin-Madison, February 2024. [invited]
“Reproductive Justice and Making Safe and Sustainable Communities,” East High School, Madison, Wisconsin, February 2024. [invited]
“Reproductive Justice in the Borderlands,” Chicano and Latino Studies Today speaker series for the 2023-2024, University of Wisconsin-Madison, February 2024. [invited]
“Past as Present: Reproductive Justice in Texas and Beyond,” 8th Annual Reproductive Ethics Conference, January 2024. [invited]
“Building Praxis and Intellectual Coalitions for Transnational Reproductive Justice,” Roundtable, American Studies Association Conference, Montreal, November 2023. [accepted]
“1973: A History from the Margins,” Shear Colbert Symposium Lecture, Marshalltown Community College, October 2023. [invited]
“Abortionists in the Borderlands,” University of North Carolina-Asheville, October 2023. [invited]
“The Politics of US-Mexico Border Rule and Reproductive (In)Justice,” Plenary Panelists, 40th Anniversary of Hypatia Journal of Feminist philosophy, University of Oregon, September, 2023. [invited]
““From Out of the Shadows’ Silver Anniversary: Celebrating Vicki Ruiz’s Leadership and Legacy,” organizer and panelist, Texas State Historical Association Conference, March 2023.
“Commemorating Fifty Years of Roe: A History of Abortion,” John Hopkins University, March 2023.
“Engaging Policymakers and the Public on US–Mexico Border and Migration History,” panel, American Historical Association, January 2023.
“La Margaret Sanger of the Borderlands: Guadalupe Arizpe de la Vega, Contraception, and Mexico’s Maquiladora System” Lecture, Reproductive Justice Research Network, Cambridge, UK, November 2022. [invited]
“In the Years Before Roe: Abortion in the Mexico-U.S. Borderlands,” Lecture, University of Georgia, October 2022. [invited]
“Rooted in History: Abortion, Law and American Health Care in Context,” Panelist, Yale Medical School, September 2022. [invited]
“Reproductive Justice Now!: A Historical Approach,” Iowa State University, Keynote Address, April 2022.
“ ‘Battling Mexico’s Growth:’ Population Control and Contraception in the late 20th Century Borderlands,” University of Texas at El Paso, November 2021. [invited]
“Abortion in the Borderlands,” Northern Arizona University, October 2021. [invited]
“In the Days Before Roe: Abortion in the Mexico-U.S. Borderlands,” Northern Arizona University, October 2021. [invited]
“Eugenics and the Southern Border,” Panel for The Anti-Eugenics Project: Legacies/Reckoning/Futures, September 27, 2021. [invited]
“Before Roe: Abortion in the Mexico-U.S. Borderlands,” Southern Illinois University, Edwardsvillle, March 2021. [invited]
“Reproductive Justice & Self-Determination: Chicana Health Activism in the Texas-Mexico Borderlands,” for “Reverse Keynote Discussion of Reproduction on the Reservation: Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Colonialism in the Long Twentieth Century (Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 2019) by Brianna Theobald” at Critical Conversations on Reproductive Health/Care: Past, Present, and Future, Institute of the History of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University, February 2021. [invited]
“Planned Parenthood of El Paso: Race, Immigration, and the History of the Birth Control Movement in the Borderlands,” Immigration and History, Middlebury College, January 2021. [invited]
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“You Will Not Replace Us”: At the Intersections of Population Control, Human Reproduction, and White Genocide in the U.S., Conference Paper, Cultural Formations of the Alt-Right Symposium, University of Michigan, September 2019. [Invited]
“Espanta Ciugeñas: Abortion Doctors in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico,” Paper, Latin American Studies Association, Boston, Massachusetts, May 2019.
“Conference: From Protest to Politics: Women’s Movements and Strengthening Democracies,” Presentation, Invited, Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy and the Department of Global Gender and Sexuality Studies, Buffalo University, April, 2019. [Invited]
“The History and Politics of Reproductive Freedom,” Organizer, Panel, Organization of American Historians, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 2019.
“Before Roe v. Wade: Reproductive Freedom in Northern Mexico’s Borderlands,” Paper, Organization of American Historians, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 2019.
“Racializing Birth Control in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands,” Paper, Texas State Historical Association, Corpus Christi, Texas, February–March 2019.
“‘Knock on Every Door’: How Pharmaceutical Companies and Planned Parenthood Brought Birth Control to the Border,” Paper Presented, Latina/o Studies Organization, Washington D.C., July 2018.
“Latinx Reproduction in the Age of Trump: Pedagogies of Resistance,” Organizer, Roundtable, American Studies Association, Chicago, Illinois, November 2017.
“Creating Inclusivity in Historical Archives: A Roundtable on Gender and Race in Oral Histories,” Roundtable, Western History Association, San Diego, California, November 2017.
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​“What’s in a Number? Women, Birth Control, and Reproductive Health,” Paper, Presented at the European Social Science History Conference, Valencia, Spain, April 2016.
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