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08 July 2013

Progressives' War On (Mainly Minority) Women: California Prison System Sterilised Inmates To Prevent 'Undesirable Babies'




Pressure: Kimberly Jeffrey said she was pressured multiple times, including while strapped to an operating table, to have sterilisation surgery after giving birth to her son Noel, now 3


By Daily Mail Reporter

A shocking new report reveals that nearly 250 women have been sterilised in California prisons since the 1990s, some as recently as 2010.

Many of the women say that they were repeatedly pressured into having tubal ligation surgeries by prison doctors - raising the specter of California's dark history of eugenics.

Female inmates revealed stories of being told - while in labour - that they should have the surgery, without being given a reason why it was medically necessary.  

The Center for Investigative Reporting found that between 1997 and 2010, the state of California paid more than $147,000 for sterilisation surgeries on 148 sterilisation surgeries - all of which were performed without proper state approval or oversight.

Instead of going through state prison healthcare regulators, doctors took it in their own hands to order the permanent surgery, which is commonly referred to as a woman 'having her tubes tied.'

Dr James Heinrich, the for OB-GYN at Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla, California, said the money was a bargain for California taxpayers.


'Over a 10-year period, that isn’t a huge amount of money compared to what you save in welfare paying for these unwanted children – as they procreated more.'

- Dr James Heinrich, the for OB-GYN at Valley State Prison for Women, on the $175,000 spent on sterilisations


He said no patients were coerced into having sterilisation surgery and he only recommended women who were at risk after multiple C-sections.

The CIR found that doctors targeted pregnant inmates who already had multiple children and were seen as being likely to wind up back in prison after their release.


 'He made me feel like a bad mother if I didn’t do it. Today, I wish I would have never had it done.'

- Christina Cordero
 

Christina Cordero, 34, who gave birth in Valley State prison in 2006, says she felt like she was coerced by Dr Heinrich into having the sterilisation surgery after giving birth to her child.

'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,' Christina Cordero, who served a two year prison sentence for auto theft, said.


Most of the incidents took place at the Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla, California

Most of the incidents took place at the Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla, California



Kimberly Jeffrey, 43, says she was strapped to a hospital table and under the influence of medication - preparing to have a C-section in 2010, when the doctor all but demanded she agree to sterilization surgery. 

'He said, "So we’re going to be doing this tubal ligation, right?"

'I’m like, "Tubal ligation? What are you talking about? I don’t want any procedure. I just want to have my baby." I went into a straight panic.'

Prison records from Valley State show that Jeffrey, who was imprisoned for a probation violation, had rejected requests she undergo sterilisation surgery twice before.


'Being treated like I was less than human produced in me a despair.'

- Kimberly Jeffrey
 

Nikki Montano, 42, who has seven children, agreed to sterilisation surgery after giving birth in Valley State in 2008. She said she was battling drug addiction at the time and was undergoing a C-section.

She was never given a medical reason why she needed the surgery, she said.


The sterilizations reportedly targeted women who had multiple children and were deemed like to re-offend

The sterilisations reportedly targeted women who had multiple children and were deemed like to re-offend



'I figured that’s just what happens in prison – that that’s the best kind of doctor you’re going get,' Montano told the CIR.

Many states, including New York and North Carolina, have a history of sterilising 'undesirable' people - the mentally ill, criminals, women deemed to be 'promiscuous.'

The most egregious use of this practice, however, was in California, where some 20,000 people were sterilised against their will from 1904 until 1964.

Even the Nazis took notice of the state's eugenics policies and sent representatives to study the state's policies in the 1930s. 





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