Under No Circumstances Is Forced Sterilization Okay

by Alex DiBranco · 2010-01-06 20:42:00 UTC
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Forced sterilization is wrong. Period. And Kate Harding at Salon's Broadsheet believes that's why a disabled mother of nine who lives on public assistance makes the right plaintiff for the issue.

Harding says that Tessa Savicki is perfect in how unsympathetic she is. "Even many of those who recoil at the word 'eugenics' will no doubt hear this story and think secretly, the doctors made the right call. That woman shouldn't be having more children."

Savicki even has a prior lawsuit against a spermicide manufacturer, in which she claimed that an expired product got her pregnant.

That's why, if Savicki's allegation of forced sterilization is true (the hospital says there's a permission slip it just can't seem to find), it's a great place to take a stand that, whatever the circumstances, you don't sterilize against a person's will. It's a violation of reproductive rights, human rights, bodily integrity.

The last forced sterilization in the United States wasn't as long ago as people might think: less than thirty years ago. Creepy.

Both sides of the reproductive debate should be able to agree on this one: forced sterilization is a no-no.

Photo: markhillary

Alex DiBranco is a Change.org Editor who has worked for the Nation, Political Research Associates, and the Center for American Progress. She is now based in New York City.
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