California banned the practice of sterilizing repeat offenders and the mentally handicapped in 1979, but the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) found that the state's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation wrongly sterilized about 150 women between 2006 and 2010.
Most of the sterilizations are believed to be coerced, and women considered "most likely to be jailed again" were targeted. 42-year-old Nikki Montano was imprisoned while pregnant with her eighth child, and was sterilized without being told why.
Sterilization is a form of eugenics. The state has no right to dictate whether women are allowed to have children in the future, or how many children they may have.
Tragically, the Supreme Court ruled in 1927 that women can be forcibly sterilized in jail in Buck v. Bell. But the ruling does not justify stripping women of their reproductive freedoms.
Please sign the petition to urge legislators to investigate these sterilizations and prevent any more women from being wrongly sterilized.
To Whom it May Concern:
I was horrified to learn that women had been sterilized in a coercive context by the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Sterilizations are a form of eugenics. The state has no right to dictate whether women are allowed to have children in the future, or how many children they may have.
[Your comments here]
This deplorable act cannot go unpunished. I urge you to investigate these sterilizations and prevent any more women from being wrongly sterilized.
Sincerely,
[Your name here]
