The History of Hysterectomies: A Tale of the U.S. Practice of Eugenics

Adriana Valdez, law student, University of San Francisco

News recently broken that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was performing questionable hysterectomies on detained immigrant women, after a nurse who worked at an immigration detention center in Georgia filed a complaint.[i] In her complaint, Nurse Dawn Wooten alleges that “several immigrant women expressed concerns to Project South about a high rate of hysterectomies,” claiming that one particular gynecologist, whom she called ‘the uterus collector’ performs the procedure.”[ii] ICE denies these allegations, in a statement to NPR, claiming it “ vehemently disputes the implications that detainees are used for experimental medical procedures.”[iii]

As shocking as this news is, it is not the first time that the U.S. has experimented with sexual sterilization on women of color. It’s a troubling story for women, the practice of Eugenics, especially given the U.S.’s long history of sterilizing women. For example, in the 1960s and 1970s, the Indian Health Services determined which Native American women were fit to have children, and those who were not were sterilized.[iv] These Native American women, like the women today, were lied to. Some women were not even told about the nature of the surgery, while others, under belief that a separate surgery was to be performed, were sterilized without their knowledge.[v]

The United States is known for promoting and allowing these forced sterilizations to occur. For example, in Buck v. Bell, the U.S. Supreme Court set the precedent that states may sterilize inmates of public institutions.[vi] As a result, some states, created Eugenic Boards, where they reviewed petitions from government and private agencies seeking to sterilize poor, unwed, and/or mentally disabled women.[vii]

Throughout the 20th century, Latina women have been specifically targeted for sterilization by the government.[viii] Similarly, In a survey conducted in 1965, it was found that Puerto Rican mothers, aged 20-49, were sterilized.[ix] Again, like the women in detention, Puerto Rican women were subject to coercive practices of forced sterilization.

We must be the voices for women in vulnerable situations. We must condemn these practices of removing any autonomy a woman has over her body. Our laws have changed, as we no longer permit the forced sterilization of women. However, apparently these laws are only outdated and outlawed for U.S. citizens. Immigrant women are now being denied their own reproductive freedom, a right U.S. citizen woman are entitled to. Immigrants are human too and deserve the same basic human rights.

These coercive sterilizations are not only an abuse of power over vulnerable populations but are also human rights violations established by the United Nations. The United States government needs to conduct an investigation into these practices to hold those running the immigration detention centers accountable. A group of legislators, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairman Joaquin Castro, and Senators Cory Booker and Richard Blumenthal have already called on the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general to investigate these claims.[x] However, it is not enough for the DHS, the head agency to conduct an internal investigate itself, as ICE is an agency under DHS. A third-party agency must conduct this investigation to allow for impartial results.

[i] Rachel Treisman, Whistleblower Alleges ‘Medical Neglect,’ Questionable Hysterectomies of ICE Detainees, NPR (Oct. 11, 2020, 3:50 PM), https://www.npr.org/2020/09/16/913398383/whistleblower-alleges-medical-neglect-questionable-hysterectomies-of-ice-detaine

[ii] Id.

[iii] Id.

[iv] Moira Donegan, Ice Hysterectomy allegations in line with U.S.’s long and racist history of Eugenics, The Guardian (Oct. 11, 2020, 4:10 PM), https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/17/ice-hysterectomy-allegations-us-eugenics-history

[v] Id.

[vi] 274 U.S. 200 (1927).

[vii] Kathryn Krase, The History of Forced Sterilizations in the United States, Our Bodies Our Selves (Oct. 11, 2020, 4:30 PM), https://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/book-excerpts/health-article/forced-sterilization/

[viii] Id.

[ix] Id.

[x] Treisman, Supra note 1.

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