1. Discussion Question: Why do we judge Rosa Vargas so harshly for having “too many children”?
“They are bad those Vargases, and how can they help it with only one mother who is tired all the time from buttoning and bottling and babying, and who cries every day for the man who left without even leaving a dollar for bologna or a note explaining how come” (Cisneros 24).

2. DID YOU KNOW? The birth control pill did not exist before 1960.
Birth control pills were ILLEGAL until Anyone who sold the pill was arrested.
Before a Supreme Court ruling in 1972, only married couples were allowed to use birth control.
Mrs. Vargas, a Latina, was most likely Catholic. The Catholic church firmly believes that using ANY form of contraception is a sin as it prevents human life.
Free daycare and head start programs did not exist yet in the 1960s.