Forced Sterilization Native American Women

For many years, Native American women have been taken advantage of and abused just for being who they are. Native American women would go into a health facility for a simple check-up, but when they come out, they no longer have the ability to bear a child. The procedure that doctors gave unwillingly to these women is known as sterilization. Female sterilization is when women can no longer become pregnant and this is possible by “blocking the fallopian tubes, that sperm cannot meet with and fertilize an egg” (Office of Population Affairs, 2016). Is it unjust for health facilities to determine if a woman has the right to bear a child? How did this go on for many years? Was this just another way for the United States to control the Native American …show more content…
Abuses, written by Kathryn Krase, she describes the history and origin of where sterilization came to be. The purpose of choosing this article is to establish a background of how this procedure became a way of controlling the population. In the year 1907, the United States established a policy that allowed the government the right to “sterilize unwilling and unwitting people” (Krase, 2014). The United States would pass laws that ensured that anyone that is not capable of bearing a child, such as, the mentally ill, the poor, the unwed, the dependent, or the diseased would be sterilized because they are not suitable to be a parent, according to the state (Krase, 2014). In the 20th century there were Eugenics Boards opening up in the states that accepted these laws and they were there to make sure that unsuitable parents cannot have children. During this century, Native American women were being endangered to population control. In 1965, the Indian Health service was being controlled by the United States Public Health Service and they began to use the sterilization process (Krase, 2014). By the 1970s, “25% of Native American women between the years 15-44 were sterilized” (Krase, 2014). This just shows that sterilization has been an issue for Native American women for many years. This source opens the eyes to anyone because it proves that this population has been abused for many years solely for being who they are. Is this process trying to family plan or commit