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Saturday, September 27, 2014

States Confront Past and Present Forced Sterilization

States -- including California, where female prisoners were involuntarily sterilized as late as 2013 -- are figuring out how to compensate the victims.

Forced sterilization by the government sounds like a ghastly practice that ought to be safely locked away in the distant past. But for some states, it’s an issue that’s very much in the present.

Take California. When the state formally apologized in 2003 for its history of forcing sterilization on prisoners and the mentally ill, most people thought the practice had died out. But this past June, a state auditor’s report found that 39 female inmates had received tubal ligations without lawful consent between 2005 and 2013.

California prison regulations already forbid forced tubal ligations, vasectomies and any other procedure that isn’t medically necessary. A bill submitted months before the audit expressly bans the practice, requires a second physician to evaluate whether sterilization is necessary, strengthens patient counseling about the procedure and toughens reporting requirements from prison medical facilities. Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill Thursday.

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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

With all the crazy people in California that might not have been a bad idea. I have to say that's the only thing they were doing right!

Anonymous said...

Think of the money saved not buying condoms. Their not cheap.

Anonymous said...

Have your pet's spayed or neutered.

Anonymous said...

They also saved money by not having unwanted children who would be put on state assistance for years to come.

Anonymous said...

As far as I'm concerned it should be more prevalent...inmates and multi-generational welfare recipients should not be allowed to breed!

Anonymous said...

The first 5 posters should have been aborted.

Anonymous said...

I'm wondering how a woman gets pregnant while incarcerated at an all women's prison. Maybe someone is not seeing the real problem here?

Gosh! I must be saying these women are not capable of Immaculate Conception!

How terrible of me!