We are fortunate to be able to choose from our birth control options. Some people, all over the world, have not been given that option. Forced sterilizations have been performed in the United States and Canada, as well as around the world. Find out why these atrocities were committed and learn about your contraceptive rights.
Eugenics
Eugenics is the practice of trying to improve the human species. This is the bet to build a faster, smarter and better human being. Many sterilization programs, including programs in many US states, were created to improve the gene pool. These forced sterilizations targeted people with mental disabilities or people with physical disabilities, such as being blind.
Chronology
In 1897, Michigan became the first state to propose a forced sterilization legislature. This legislature did not pass; nor did the Pennsylvania attempts a few years later. The first state to introduce sterilization laws was Indiana, in 1907; Washington and California followed in 1907. In 1927, the famous Buck v. Bell was heard in the supreme courts, which legalized forced sterilizations, and the era of more forced sterilizations began. In 1942, Skinner v. Oklahoma ruled that someone cannot be sterilized as punishment, partially reducing forced sterilizations. By 1963, most states had stopped using sterilization laws, although many of them remained on the law books longer: North Carolina did not repeal its laws until 1974. Approximately 70,000 Americans were sterilized against its Will.
Buck v. campaign
In 1924, Virginia passed a law that all people with mental disabilities must be sterilized for eugenic reasons. In 1927, Carrie Bell was ordered sterilized. Judge Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. explained that the sanctity of the gene pool outweighed a person’s physical rights. The reason for sterilizing Carrie was that she was supposedly slower mentally and had a history of prostitution. Current studies have shown that Carrie was likely sterilized due to her and her mother’s promiscuity.
Sexism
As the Carrie Bell case demonstrates, forced sterilizations were often performed on women for unjust reasons. While men were allowed to be sexually promiscuous (and were often encouraged to be), women were destined to be chaste. Having children outside of marriage could lead to sterilization. Some women were sterilized without their knowledge. Many of the women who were forcibly sterilized were barely female, often only 14 years old or even younger.
Racism
In many states and provinces, racism was a motivating factor in mandatory sterilizations. In North Carolina, for example, many black women were sterilized when they went to deliver their babies. In Alberta, eugenics was allegedly being used to prevent more babies from being born with mental or physical disabilities. However, too large a proportion of Métis women were sterilized. The Métis people are an Aboriginal people, having a First Nations heritage mixed with European settlers. It is possible that the government was concerned because they represented mestizaje, that is, the mixture of racial genes.
Poverty
Just as gender and race are factors in forced sterilizations, so is socioeconomic status. Often gender, race, and class were combined. Most of the time it was black people who were poor, and often it was poor black women who were sterilized against their will. Some argued that sterilizing the poor was a blessing because it allowed a family to care for the children they already had.
Your rights
You have the right not to be sterilized without your consent. Regardless of physical or mental disabilities, no one in Canada or the United States is legally allowed to be sterilized without consent.
However, you can opt for sterilization for your contraceptive method. Birth control remains in their hands and not in those of governments. Learn more about your birth control options to prevent unwanted pregnancy and to use your power of choice.