For 40 years, the reproductive justice organization Taller Salud has been providing direct services to Puerto Rican survivors of gender-based violence and intimate partner violence. Founded in 1979, Taller Salud is the longest running feminist organization on the island. Located in the predominantly Afro-Puerto Rican municipality of Loíza, the organization began in response to the Puerto Rican Pill Trials when an American scientist and biologist identified low-income Puerto Rican women as guinea pigs for testing what would become the birth control pill.
Today, the work that Taller Salud does is multifaceted, focusing on comprehensive health initiatives, leadership programs, direct services, and restorative justice. The organization—much like all of Puerto Rico—is also struggling to respond to overwhelming injustices. In 2017, hurricanes decimated the island and killed thousands of people, the effects of which are still being felt. More recently, Puerto Rico has moved to re-open, even as the number of COVID-19-related hospitalizations are on the rise and testing and healthcare infrastructure remain incredibly limited.
And then there’s the rewritten civil code.