Forced Female inmate sterilization in California prisons|State Crime
The Center for Investigative Reporting has revealed forced female inmates sterilization practices in the women's prisons located in the state of California. The report allegedly showed that doctors in California prisons conducted sterilizations of 148 female inmates between 2006 and 2010 after they gave birth without following proper state approval.
In the late 70s, forced sterilization was banned in state prisons and a couple of laws were put in place including the state-funded ligitations be approved by a medical review committee and that the inmates must give consent. Hence, it is a crime to pressure a female inmate to agree to the procedure while she is going through labor or childbirth.
According to 34-year-old Christina Cordero, a former inmate at the California Institution for Women in Corona and the Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla, the institution's OB-GYN doctor pressured her to have a tubal ligation.
“As soon as he found out that I had five kids, he suggested that I look into getting it done. The closer I got to my due date, the more he talked about it,” she said. “He made me feel like a bad mother if I didn’t do it.” Cordero, agreed, but said, “today I wish I would have never done it.”
Several pressured inmates underwent the procedure while they were pregnant and in prison. Doctors allegedly targeted inmates whom they thought were likely to be repeat offenders or already had many children. - MSN news