Maternity, eugenics, and syphilis in Spain during the first Franco regime, 1939-1950

Abstract

This article analyzes maternity in Social Assistance based on the demographic policy of the first Franco regime, influenced by eugenic thought. Considering that during the Franco regime the control of women’s bodies became an essential tool of its biopolitics, the presence of eugenic ideas and practices around the health problem of syphilis in pregnant women and congenital syphilis is discussed. The role of Social Assistance in the implementation of prenatal surveillance during pregnancy and the process of institutionalization and medicalization of childbirth in Spain is also analyzed.