Women Sterilized by California Prisons, without permission.
I almost didn't post this, under the assumption that someone else must have. But I didn't see it in the last few pages. If it is a duplicate, I apologize.
I am fairly good with words. I like to think I am above average in my ability to make a good, logical, persuasive argument on issues I care about. I often post that morals and principles not party should guide our policy discussion. Right now, I am finding it harder to write words than I have since called upon to write my Mother's obituary.
The story, a Doctor in a California Women's Prison waits and discusses Tubal Ligation, the slicing of the fallopian tubes, on the table moments before the birth of the baby.
Doctors under contract with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation sterilized nearly 150 female inmates from 2006 to 2010 without required state approvals, The Center for Investigative Reporting has found.
At least 148 women received tubal ligations in violation of prison rules during those five years – and there are perhaps 100 more dating back to the late 1990s, according to state documents and interviews.
From 1997 to 2010, the state paid doctors $147,460 to perform the procedure, according to a database of contracted medical services for state prisoners.
The Doctor in question was interviewed. His answer is enough to make me sick to my stomach.
During an interview with CIR, Heinrich said he provided an important service to poor women who faced health risks in future pregnancies because of past cesarean sections. The 69-year-old Bay Area physician denied pressuring anyone and expressed surprise that local contract doctors had charged for the surgeries. He described the $147,460 total as minimal.
“Over a 10-year period, that isn’t a huge amount of money,” Heinrich said, “compared to what you save in welfare paying for these unwanted children – as they procreated more.”
I can not express my feelings well enough to even try here. I don't possess the words. I don't have the skills with the language. Any word seems too mild. Fury? Rage? Disgust? None of them come close to adequately conveying my emotional response to this barbarism.
