Giving voice to the Traumatic Event, Spanish Mothers of Stolen Babies. Three Strategies to Silence Mothers during and after the Dictatorship
Carolina Escudero, PhD

Abstract
During the dictatorship in Spain, women’s voices were manipulated and silenced using different strategies. Since the end of Franco’s dictatorship (1940-1975), the theft of babies has not been recognized by democratic governments as a crime, even though 300,000 babies were stolen. The end of the dictatorship in Spain did not mark a before and after in women’s rights for reproductive health. The purpose of this paper is to first contextualize the theft of babies, then to examine the process of voice and bodily reconstruction through the testimonies of 20 mothers from the Spanish organization SOS BebésRobados Catalunya (SOSBRC), and take into consideration how the workshops based on resilience created an impact in the process of voicing their cases. As a result of this exploratory study, three categories of silence experienced by mothers arise: Silenced Through Medication (STMe); Silenced Through Manipulation (STMa); Silenced through Medication and Manipulation (STMea).

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