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Kyla Uribe

Professor Encinias

CAS 115

28 November 2023

How Has Coerced Sterilization Affected Latina Immigrant Women’s Lives in the United States?

More than 60,000 forced sterilizations were performed throughout the United States, the

majority of those being the poor, the disabled, immigrants, and racial minorities. However, these

heinous acts created against these individuals threaten the Eighth Amendment. This amendment

protects the citizens against excessive fines, bail, and cruel or unusual punishment to prevent

government abuse. Coerced sterilization is a procedure that removes the ability to reproduce.

Doctors have targeted these individuals as a way to decrease the marginalized population and

save the state money in welfare costs. Immigrant women have undergone unnecessary

gynecological procedures from removal of the uterus to even death while in a vulnerable or

unconscious state. The U.S. has continued to sweep these cases under the rug arguing that it does

not challenge the Eighth Amendment along with the Fourteenth Amendment. These women have

been manipulated, threatened, quieted, and used while detained at detention centers by the

government.

Many cases have been located in the south, specifically Virginia and Georgia, which have

private detention centers where they perform these involuntary surgeries on immigrant women.

Forced sterilization has restricted women from starting a family, which has always been an

important part of an immigrant's journey. Establishing a family in the U.S. allows safer
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opportunities, as well as a more simpler way of gaining citizenship. However, with the detention

centers and the government taking away this God-given privilege, they are no longer able to

make the family they’ve always wanted. The history of forced sterilizations has affected

immigrant women throughout the world, not just immigrants but people of color, the disabled,

and the poor. Every woman, even those who make the treacherous journey to the United States

for a better life should be given the right to accept or decline something that will ultimately

change their future forever. Since the passing of Buck V. Bell in 1927 to now, how has coerced

sterilization affected immigrant women’s lives? Forced sterilization has negatively impacted

immigrant women for these primary reasons: A) The history of sterilization, B) private detention

centers, C) and the lack of protection from the government.

The first case of sterilization was recorded in 1927, A impoverished white lady named

Carrie Buck was the first person to be forcibly sterilized. Her mother was involuntarily

institutionalized for being “feebleminded” and “promiscuous”. The court argued that stupidity,

epilepsy, and feeblemindedness were hereditary, and declared that inmates should be prevented

from having kids to avoid passing these defects on to the next generation. On May 2nd, 1927,

with an eight-to-one decision, the Supreme Court ordered Carrie to be sterilized after giving birth

due to the presumption that Carrie inherited these traits. Not only did they pass the decision on

Carrie being sterilized but they also passed the legalization of state-enforced sterilization. Which

meant that states had the right to sterilize individuals they deem fit the criteria. The standard

began to expand to immigrants and African Americans, those who were now seen as inferior to

other races socially and economically were sterilized. To “better” humanity, the state prevented

these individuals from reproducing.

The first case to kick off the discrimination against racial minorities was Skinner V.

Oklahoma. Jack Skinner, a black inmate, was ordered to be sterilized after his third conviction as

he was deemed a habitual offender. They argued that the decision went against the Equal

Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Justice William O. Douglas agrees with the

inherent dangers of allowing sterilization, writing "The power to sterilize can cause races or

types which are inimical to the dominant group to wither and disappear” (Boehm). Equal

Protection law applies regardless of one’s identity and ethnicity, leaving the court to declare that

states cannot require the sterilization of criminals convicted of crimes since procreation is a

fundamental right. However, that did not stop the state and federal facilities from practicing

sterilization.

After the Skinner V Oklahoma decision in a case later in the year 1942, a Mexican

immigrant woman, Iris Lopez, a 16-year-old was committed to an institution and sterilized. After

participating in World War II by building Victory Ships, she became a victim of forced

sterilization instead of being given the economic opportunity that opened up for women and

people of color after the war. Doctor records show that young Latinas like Iris were described as

“sex delinquents” “Their sterilizations were described as necessary to protect the state from

increased crime, poverty, and racial degeneracy” (Novak & Lira). After this case, 20,000 more

immigrant women faced these same tragedies in the South. That's one-third of the national total.

Just about 45 years ago, a case sparked up in 1978, Madrigal V. Quilligan. This was a civil rights

class action lawsuit filed by 10 Latinx women against the LA county-USC medical center.

Unauthorized sterilizations were committed against these women with inadequate medical and

educational resources. Not to their notice, the doctors failed to explain the permanence of

sterilization and how the ability to have children was no longer a privilege to them. These
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women who were sterilized at a young age have to deal with the irreversible pain of not being

able to reproduce.

With the history of sterilization, it has caused the disintegration of families and a decrease

in the immigrant population. For immigrant women, specifically Central American women, it is

important for them to establish a family and a home in the U.S. to get a better chance and

opportunity at a good life. Safety and protection are a part of the top five things that America

promises immigrants when they come. Nonetheless, the U.S. has robbed these women of the

possibility of creating their next generation. They will not be able to pass on their culture,

history, language, and values due to the inhumane surgeries that these centers have executed.

It is said that children provide meaning, satisfaction, and connection in parents' lives.

They harness love, acceptance, and amusement. They carry new ideas, reflections, and

opportunities. While also becoming the next generation to pass on their ancestor’s legacy.

Something that was once the most important feature that was created to bring such joy and

happiness to the world was taken. Immigrant women are affected by this because they will never

be able to feel the feeling of being a mother. They will never have the opportunity to feel the

unfathomable love, care, selflessness, excitement, and responsibility that is motherhood.

Growing into an adult and realizing that the procedure you were forced to undergo took away

your right to create a family or reproduce can create depression, unworthiness, anger, and

frustration. The scariest part can even be death since women who are sterilized and can no longer

reproduce have a higher chance of getting ovarian cancer or uterine tumors. The history of forced

sterilization can have this effect on immigrant women however, the creation of private detention

centers has left these women feeling infuriated.

Connection to immigrant women: Private medical detention centers in the South as well

as in California have been targeting immigrant women specifically, Latinx women since the

1920s. They’ve created a hidden system where they can undetectably force these women to go

through gynecological surgeries and procedures without federal consequences. These women

were manipulated, used, threatened, and abused by doctors in their most vulnerable state, leaving

them with a scar that removed any opportunity of having children. In 1974, Relf V Weinberger

found that poor people in the South were being forced to agree to sterilization when doctors

threatened to withhold welfare benefits or medical care. Which was being federally funded by

the state. The judge of the case prohibited the use of federal dollars for involuntary sterilizations

and the practice of threatening women on welfare with the loss of their benefits if they refused to

comply. The court underlines that forced medical practices overstep family planning and

eugenics. However, in the same era as Relf, the case I discussed earlier Madrigal V. Quilligan

was based on a group of women who were coerced into sterilization and underwent a tubal

ligation. “Hospital staff repeatedly approached the women for consent to sterilization while they

were in the midst of labor — some after being heavily medicated — and pressured the women

into signing English language consent forms” (Davis). When in a vulnerable state there comes a

degree of uncertainty, fear, and uncontrollableness which one can easily take advantage of.

During the most painful events in a woman’s life, doctors have exploited them when they are

emotionally weak and lack cognition, especially when it’s in a different language or a small

enough font that one can’t read.

With the pressure of sterilization, the doctors told Madrigal that the surgery was

reversible and that it was only temporary just to get her to sign the consent forms. Three other

women also faced the same situation when in labor. ​Jovita Rivera and Georgina Hernandez stated
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that “they were bullied by doctors and nurses who declared their children burdens on California

taxpayers” Another, Melvina Hernandez found out “that her tubes had been cut until four years

after her son was born” (Valades). The deceit that these doctors portrayed when pressurizing

these vulnerable women didn’t take into account the traumatic and emotional distress they have

suffered throughout the years. In Mexico, South, and Central America their culture bases

women’s worth on their ability to raise a large family, not by their sterilization. Since family

planning is important in the Latinx culture, women who are sterilized are viewed differently by

those who can reproduce. For example, men see women who are sterilized as those who “cheat

on their husbands or would betray them by not being loyal to them” (Wikipedia.com). Unable to

fill their role in their family and their culture, these women are faced with isolation, depression,

frustration, and unfulfillment.

Going through such a traumatic event and not being able to carry out your culture to the

next generation can cause everlasting effects on the brain and the body. As I discussed earlier

when faced with detrimental situations such as unnecessary gynecological procedures, can cause

death, if not to that extent then chronic stress, change in behavioral health, or life-threatening

tumors. With the government's knowledge of these heinous acts, they have done nothing to

compensate for it, whether that be through protection against these detention centers, overturning

of Buck V Bell, or even money.

The government is for the people and by the people. They exist to protect the rights of

citizens. However, they continuously allow federal funds to help the coercive sterilization of

Latina immigrant women. More than once they have recognized the discrimination, the

xenophobia, the oppression, the threats, the neglect and have done nothing. Instead of

overturning the law that carries on the legalization of sterilization they allow the victims to pile
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up and go through this evil and unjust act. In order to add protection from this law or seek

justice, multiple immigrant women have to suffer. Not only that but the government has to

recognize their obligation under the Rules and must reaffirm and strengthen its obligations under

the Convention against Torture. Both which directly prohibit the horrific acts that occurred at

these detention centers, and that the U.S. must be held liable for its violations of these

international instruments.

In the Mandela Rules it states “Rule 32 contains an absolute prohibition on engaging in

acts that may constitute torture, including medical or scientific experimentation that may be

detrimental to a prisoner’s health, such as the removal of a prisoner’s organs”. However, the

government doesn’t deem these detainees in an isolated detention facility as prisoners so it does

not pertain to them. So ICE itself does not follow or is forced to be bound by these rules.

However, based on the standards for detention centers, which directly correlate to the Rules, the

United States is violating its comment to uphold the principles enshrined in the Mandela Rules.

“ICE broke Rules 32 and PBNDS Section D by not obtaining informed consent of the immigrant

women before performing surgery, not adequately explaining the procedure in their native

language before consent, and the serious harm and forced treatment of the sterilizations”

(Sabrina Davis).There has been a clear violation in these rules, in particular the most recent

allegations was the ICDC or Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia where officials

transferred detainees to a physician who sterilized the women without proper informed consent.

Many of the Latinx immigrant women were suffering from medical abuse, from failures of

protection from COVID-19 to forced hysterectomies.

Now with no understanding about the negative impacts doctors have imposed on them,

they have to go through the rest of their life with a permanent choice that the doctors decided.
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“Some nurses would try to communicate with detained immigrants by simply Googling Spanish

rather than using appropriate interpretation protocols” (Manian). They would also do "dangerous

practices, including the removal of the uterus of several women, at the Irwin center”

(ContentEngine LLC). These practices were considered experimental just to see if the threats and

coercion would stop the reproduction of racial minorities. Just as these exercises overstep the

Rules and Convention of Torture in which the government and the UN established in 1987 and

2015, they have done nothing to put a halt to the injustice.The government has continuously

brushed aside these remorseless acts due to economic and societal benefits that to me seem to be

selfish and sadistic. Where rules are set in place to maintain protection of the people, where

human rights and privileges are sacred and can’t be taken away. But with these federally funded

detention centers coercing Latina immigrant women into a procedure they know little to nothing

about, ultimately takes away their god-given to creating new life. Seeking for help and

restoration to a position in a higher power and not receiving it can be very prejudicial to oneself.

We constantly look at the higher power to enforce the rights and wrongs of this country but they

continue to fail over and over again. When the government and society as a whole ignores and

disregards the cruel actions forced upon one can allow them to feel worthless. Immigrants may

come to believe that their feelings shouldn't be trusted. When experiences of hurt and abuse are

invalidated, they may believe that they shouldn't speak up when others harm them, leaving these

acts to continue to permanently ruin immigrant women's lives forever when coming to America

or being discriminated against based on a stereotype or subjective opinions.

Family has always been an important part of the Latinx culture, especially for the

women’s role and worth in the community. The ability to give life to a newborn baby, to hold a

precious human being in your uterus for 9 months, to birth a child and give your unconditional
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love to is something that these women will never experience. Motherhood has always been a

brand new perspective and experience that can change one’s life for the better. But the

government and state have ripped this beautiful privilege out from under them with no

explanation other than the inferiority the majority feels against minority groups. Which is why

forced sterilization has negatively impacted Latina immigrant women, the reasons being: the

history of sterilization, the creation of private detention centers, and the lack of protection from

the government. All three reasons have manipulated, threatened, quieted, and used immigrant

women from taking a stand against sterilization. It’s truly disgusting the thought of intentionally

putting a halt to women’s reproductive systems due to racist and discriminatory beliefs in

society. It’s even more repulsive that the government has done nothing to end these coerced

doings. For a country that is all about the mixtures of ethnicities, cultures, language, background,

and experiences it sure feels like they want to keep it as white as possible. These women

continue to fight the battle of compensation and protection against these detention centers and

the case of Buck V. Bell, No person of any race should be faced with the permanence of

sterilization, nor should they be discounted for when it comes to upholding the law.
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Works Cited

Armstrong, Lisa. “Sterilized by the State.” Essence, vol. 42, no. 12, Essence Communications,

Inc., 2012, pp. 74-78.

Boehm, Inka Skłodowska. “PUNISHMENT AND PREJUDICE: REPRODUCTIVE

COERCION IN IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT DETENTION

CENTERS.” The American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law, vol.

29, no. 4, 2022, pp. 529–61.

https://www.proquest.com/docview/2637412442?accountid=7285&parentSessionId=LNr

fi92FESUVmtt9aab7UCcFeoWGpX0bOx0ovJnnM5U%3D&pq-origsite=primo

Davis, Charles. “ICE Said to Transfer Women out of Detention Center That Became Infamous

over Allegations of Forced Sterilization.” Business Insider, US edition, 2021.

Davis, Sabrina. “Unrepeatable Harms: Forced Sterilization at ICE Detention Centers.” Human

Rights Brief, vol. 25, no. 2, 2022, pp. 153-160

Manian, Maya. “Immigration Detention and Coerced Sterilization: History Tragically Repeats

Itself: ACLU.” American Civil Liberties Union, 5 July 2023,

www.aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/immigration-detention-and-coerced-sterilization-h

istory-tragically-repeats-itself.

Presch, Stephanie, and UnidosIS. “The Long History of Forced Sterilization of Latinas.”

UnidosUS, 6 Jan. 2022,

https://unidosus.org/blog/2021/12/16/the-long-history-of-forced-sterilization-of-latinas/.
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“Relf v. Weinberger.” Southern Poverty Law Center,

www.splcenter.org/seeking-justice/case-docket/relf-v-weinberger. Accessed 21 Nov.

2023.

“Sterilization of Latinas.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Sep. 2023,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterilization_of_Latinas#No_M%C3%A1s_Bebes_(2015).

Translated by ContentEngine LLC. “More Allegations of Mexican Migrants for Forced

Sterilizations in the U.S.” CE Noticias Financieras, English ed., ContentEngine LLC, a

Florida limited liability company, 2020.

Valdes, Marcela. “When Doctors Took ‘Family Planning’ into Their Own Hands.” The New York

Times, The New York Times, 1 Feb. 2016,

www.nytimes.com/2016/02/01/magazine/when-doctors-took-family-planning-into-their-o

wn-hands.html.