The Forced or Involuntary Sterilization of Disabled People

Poster: Unveiling Injustice: The Historical and Current Day Impact of Forced Sterilization on People with Disabilities in The United States. 3 columns. First column has an Image of the U.S Supreme Court. Text under it reads: The Legalization of Forced Sterilization- Laws passed at the beginning of the 20th century legalized the sterilization of people with disabilities. - This explicit ableism was framed as “granting” the medical superintendents of asylums and prisons the authority to “asexualize” if such action would improve his or her “physical, mental, or moral condition.” In 1917, the language in the law was amended to “reword the description of a diagnosis warranting surgery to a mental disease which may have been inherited and is likely to be transmitted to descendants. The United States Supreme Court later affirmed the constitutionality of these programs in Buck v. Bell (1927) Buck v. Bell has yet to be overturned. Second Column- Pie chart with 41% highlighted. Text reads: In 2024, 41% of black, disabled girls are sterilized. Race, Disability, and Guardianship orced Sterilization practices often intersect with other systems of oppression, including racism, sexism, and classism. the intersection of disability, race, and guardianship increases vulnerability to forced or coerced sterilization, especially among disabled individuals of color. In many cases, sterilization of disabled individuals, occurs under the legal authority of guardians or through institutional settings where consent may not be fully informed. 3rd Column- Image of QR code linking to www.thinkequitable.com/sterilization-of-disabled-people Text reads: Scan the above QR code for citations, further information, and ways you can advocate against forced sterilization. Image of different types of hands holding protest signs at the bottom of the poster. Posters read: 41% of Black, Disabled Girls Sterilized- Overturn Buck v. Bell. No More Eugenics! Justice 4 Disabled Bodies. Buck v. Bell: Injustice Still Standing My Body, My Choice- Overturn Buck v. Bell. The National Center for Disability, Equity, and Intersectionality

Advocating Against the Sterilization of Disabled Bodies

Currently, 31 States, plus Washington D.C., allow for the Sterilization of Disabled people. Unfortunately, there is no data on the number of people with disabilities that are sterilized under these laws. According to Maáyan Anafi, Senior Counsel for Health Equity and Justice at the National Women’s Law Center, in order to address the forced sterilization of people with disabilities, especially BIPOC Disabled People, we must:

  • Change the narratives that have been used to justify or ignore forced sterilization
  • Change the idea that disabled people shouldn’t control their bodies, that laws forcing them to be sterilized are somehow necessary or even benevolent
  • Challenge the assumption that disabled people can’t make their own decisions and that they can’t understand their bodies
  • Laws that recognize that disabled people have the right to make decisions about their bodies and being sterilized.
  • Ensuring that everyone has the tools and supports they need to make decisions about sterilization, which includes making sure that disabled people who want a sterilization have access to it

Across the country, many states have attempted to provide reparations for people who have been forced into sterilization in the past. You can learn more about those programs here – An Attempt at Reparations: California’s Forced or Involuntary Sterilization Program

Citations

Buck v. Bell Court Case

Mosher W, Hughes RB, Bloom T, Horton L, Mojtabai R, Alhusen JL. Contraceptive Use by Disability Status: new national estimates from the National Survey of Family Growth. Contraception. 2018 Jun;97(6):552-558. doi: 10.1016/j.contraception.2018.03.031. Epub 2018 Mar 27. PMID: 29596784; PMCID: PMC6071327.

National Women’s Law Center. Forced Sterilization of Disabled People in The United States Report

The Forced Sterilization of Disabled People in the United States: An Interview with Ma’ayan Anafi, Senior Counsel for Health Equity and Justice at the National Women’s Law Center. 2022 March

Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF). California Passes Landmark Law to Provide Reparations to Survivors of State Sponsored Forced Sterilization. 2021 July

Stern AM, Novak NL, Lira N, O’Connor K, Harlow S, Kardia S. California’s sterilization survivors: an estimate and call for redress. American Journal of Public Health. 2017 Jan;107(1):50-4.

Cited in Laughlin, Eugenical Sterilization, 17; on Hatch, see Joel Braslow, Mental Ills and Bodily Cures: Psychiatric Treatment in the First Half of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997).

Stern AM. Sterilized in the Name of Public Health: race, immigration, and reproductive control in modern California. Am J Public Health. 2005 Jul;95(7):1128-38. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2004.041608. PMID: 15983269; PMCID: PMC1449330.

Sterilization and Social Justice Lab– A multi-institutional research team based in different disciplines, with a staff that includes undergraduate and graduate students, librarians, research fellows, digital specialists, and faculty.

Webinar: Reparations Speak Out.’ Hosted by Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, California Coalition for Women Prisoners, Belly of the Beast Film Team , California Latinas for Reproductive Justice, Sterilization and Social Justice Lab, and Back to the Basics