Forced sterilizations for people with disabilities decried by members of Congress

Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley speaks during a press conference on reproductive rights for people with disabilities outside the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, May 23, 2024. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON — Three members of Congress introduced a resolution Thursday that’s intended to bring attention to the experiences and challenges people with disabilities face when it comes to reproductive rights.

Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley announced the resolution during a press conference with advocates just steps from the U.S. Capitol, saying that under a Supreme Court ruling still in effect, people with disabilities can be sterilized without their consent.

“Buck v. Bell is a decision of the United States Supreme Court in which the court ruled on May 2, 1927, affirming the constitutionality of Virginia’s law allowing state-enforced sterilization,” Pressley said.

Pressley said people outside of the disability rights community often aren’t aware of the ruling or the fact it has never been challenged.

“They’re in disbelief that this even happened and that this ruling authorizes involuntary sterilization of people with disabilities and has never been overturned,” Pressley said.

Unique barriers

The four-page resolution would designate one day in May as Disability Reproductive Equity Day.

The resolution says that “people with disabilities face unique barriers when accessing reproductive health care,” including harmful stereotypes, communication barriers and a lack of accessible health care facilities, among other obstacles.

It adds that Congress “pledges to advance the right of people with disabilities to reproductive and sexual health, autonomy, and freedom.”

Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth and Washington Democratic Sen. Patty Murray introduced the companion resolution in that chamber.

Murray wrote in a statement announcing the introduction that “Americans with disabilities have long had to jump through extra hoops and faced real discrimination when it comes to accessing the health care they need, including abortion care.”

“Access to reproductive health care has been in crisis since the Dobbs decision, making it even harder for people with disabilities to access high-quality care from providers who understand their health care needs,” Murray wrote. “It’s important that we recognize the barriers millions of women face in accessing reproductive health care, and this resolution is an important marker for us all to recommit to the fight for reproductive justice for all.”

Co-sponsors in the House include New Jersey Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Pennsylvania Rep. Madeleine Dean and Washington Rep. Adam Smith. All are Democrats.

Access to full slate of care

Rebecca Cokley, program officer for disability rights at the Ford Foundation, told a story during the press conference about how after having her middle child, the anesthesiologist told the OB-GYN to “tie her tubes,” adding that “people like her don’t need to have any more babies.”

Cokley said her OB-GYN could have “advocated for that and it would have been perfectly legal.”

“When we talk about reproductive justice, it’s about the idea that all women, all people have the right to have children, the right to not have children.” Cokley said. “The right to nurture the children we have in a safe and healthy environment.”

Jess Davidson, communications director at the American Association of People with Disabilities, discussed how access to the full slate of reproductive health care, including abortion, is crucial for people with disabilities.

Members of the community, she said, “have an 11 times greater risk of mortality from pregnancy.”

“I know all too well the fear that comes with living with that kind of risk,” Davidson said. “I felt deep in my bones as a young woman that I was made for motherhood.”

After being diagnosed with an illness in her mid-20s that significantly increased her chances of miscarriage or maternal mortality, Davidson said she spoke with her doctor about whether or not she should ever get pregnant.

“I was devastated when I first learned this, but my doctor assured me that if I was willing to get an abortion if it were necessary to save my life and work closely with a high-risk obstetrician, that I could try and see how it went,” Davidson said. “After all, every person and every pregnancy is different.”

That was all before the Supreme Court in 2022 overturned the constitutional right to an abortion that had stood for nearly 50 years under two prior rulings.

“Now when I think about attempting a high-risk pregnancy, I feel so fearful that it feels like I can’t breathe,” she said. “And I am someone who lives in Colorado and Washington, D.C., two places where my right to that life-saving care is still intact.”

Many people with disabilities who want to have children, Davidson said, now live in states that ban or significantly restrict abortion access, even if continuing a pregnancy threatens their life or health.

Forced sterilization in state laws

Ma’ayan Anafi, senior counsel for health equity and justice at the National Women’s Law Center, said that 31 states have laws in place that allow forced sterilization of people with disabilities.

“These laws give judges the power to disregard a disabled person’s wishes and make the decision for them, supposedly for their own good,” Anafi said.

“In doing so they echo many of the same harmful narratives that fueled forced sterilizations … that disabled people can’t or shouldn’t make decisions about their bodies and parenting,” Anafi added. “And that it’s justifiable to take those choices away to protect disabled people from themselves.”

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