The Cure is Worse than the Disease

 The Cure is Worse Than the Disease  is a short story by the pseudonymous jespah.

The story is told from the perspective of Dr. An Nguyen, the Chief Medical Officer for Erika Hernandez, on the Columbia.

In February of 2160, Nguyen is a witness to First Contact with the Daranaeans, the only known sentient marsupial canid species in the galaxy.

But what Nguyen and the others find is oppression of the two lower female castes, and institutional sexism. Both of these women are subjugated, and evidently the standard treatment of them is to keep them barefoot and pregnant.

Feeling sorry for the women, he offers sterilization to the secondary female, who is ready to consent until the third caste wife reminds her that voluntary sterilization would likely mean that she would be euthanized.