#forced sterilization

The number of Indigenous women in the province who have been subjected to forced sterilization and other forms of obstetric and gynecological violence is much higher than previously thought, according to a new report. On Tuesday, researchers at the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscaminque (UQAT) released new findings – a follow-up to the first phase of their research published nearly four years ago. At that time, 35 women’s testimonies were collected related to incidents that took place between 1980 and 2019. Twenty-two stories involved cases of forced sterilization.

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The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that the Czech Republic violated the rights of trans people by forcing them to be sterilised. Requiring transgender men and women to undergo sterilisation procedures in order to gain legal recognition of their gender identity meant the central-European country had breached international law, the court decided on Thursday (12 June).

Encouraging all people capable of being pregnant to get their tubes tied or get a hysterectomy isn't the solution you think it is.

Most people who get abortions do so because they want to be able to get pregnant in the future.

Back-alley abortions often leave people unable to become pregnant again, even if they want to. Legal, safe abortion ensures that a person can terminate a pregnancy while still retaining the option and ability to become pregnant again.

PoC, disabled people, and trans and intersex people have historically been barred from the right to get pregnant and reproduce. These marginalized groups have faced sterilization and maternal mortality for a long time.

If you think reproductive justice is only about the right to *not* be pregnant, you are woefully misinformed.

Reproductive justice means people should be able to control their own bodies, whether it means ending or preventing a pregnancy, or becoming pregnant and remaining pregnant.

Reproductive justice means that healthcare providers should and must address the barriers and dangers PoC, disabled people, and trans and intersex people face when it comes to obstetrics and gynecology.

Reproductive justice means lowering the maternal mortality rate for black people in America.

Reproductive justice means not sterilizing disabled people and providing safe options for disabled people who want to become pregnant.

Reproductive justice means acknowledging that trans people may want to become pregnant and not mandating they be sterilized in order to legally transition.

Reproductive justice means not sterilizing intersex babies and children in the attempt to make them fit into a dyadic, binary sex.

What is sterilization?

A procedure to prevent pregnancy. For people with fallopian tubes, it’s often referred to as getting your tubes tied. For people who produce sperm, it’s often referred to as a vasectomy.

What is forced sterilization?

One of these procedures being performed without or against the explicit consent of the person who’s getting the procedure.

Disabled people get told all the time that we shouldn’t reproduce or have kids. What many people don’t realize is that eugenic, ableist mindset is lawfully practiced in most states to this day.

Presently, there are 31 (out of 50) states that legalize forced sterilization. Those states are Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawai’i, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and Wyoming.

There are only 2 (out of 50) states that have explicitly outlawed forced sterilization. Those states are Alaska and North Carolina.

When you hear someone talk about the poor having too many children or talking about overpopulation do you understand that that's an attack on reproductive rights (and also eugenics rhetoric)?

Do you consider the fact that many women have to have their reproductive organs surgically removed to be legally considered women an attack on reproductive rights? Do you consider it weird that this is what many democrats consider a "reasonable middle ground"?

Do you consider the fact that many neurodivergent people are put on medication that removes sexual function and essentially chemically castrates them, and most doctors don't see this as an issue (especially when the patient in question is afab) an attack on reproductive rights?

Do you consider the fact that people's wombs are being removed in the American concentration camps that continue to operate on American soil an attack on reproductive rights? (And have you thought about the concentration camps since it stopped being a talking point about an individual politician?)