Saturday, December 22, 2018

Spotlight on Students: The Effects of Forced Sterilization on American Indian Groups

The following is a post written by a student,  Cinthia Ochoa.  This post highlights her work that she completed as part of her requirements in Ant 411: Culture Areas of the World.  Students have the opportunity to explore material through their own research.  Please show your appreciation for her work through the comments.




By: Cinthia Ochoa




During this week’s reading, the author explained that Native American women faced a lot more inequalities than Native American men. In our discussion the use of sterilization to get rid of Native American culture was mentioned. This led me to my curiosity question: What consequences did Native American faces due to sterilization?


Since eugenics became a socially acceptable concept in the United States, many women in minority groups were subject to involuntary sterilization. These women often did not understand the paperwork they were signing. The US government, along with physicians, believed that it was for the best of the country to prevent these women from procreating. The harm caused by this irreversible procedure not only affected the victim of sterilization, but the people surrounding them (Lawrence 2000).

The Indian Health Services (IHS) is the Agency assigned by the government to care for the health of Native Americans. Because the US Government had control over the agency, it was easy for the government to sterilize Native American women. These procedures were performed to eradicate Native American race from America. Due to high birth rate in Native American population, the government thought it would be correct to perform involuntary sterilization. During 1960 through 1970 many women ranging in ages from 15 to 44 had unnecessary hysterectomies performed by HIS physicians. The article talks about two young Native American girls who went into the hospital for an appendectomy and as a “bonus” they received a hysterectomy. These young girls’ decision to procreate was robbed from them. Many other victims agreed to sterilization because they were threatening to take away their children. Other women were asked to sign consent for serialization after a C-section while still heavily sedated (Lawrence 2000). 

Not realizing the procedure was permanent many women asked their physicians to reverse the procedure. According to Dr. Connie Pirkenton-Uri, 25-50% of Native American women had been sterilized from 1970-1976 (Lawrence 2000).  Because of sterilization many women had to seek psychiatric counselling to cope with their loss. In addition to metal instability, women faced divorce. One woman stated her husband left her because ‘he wanted a real woman” (Lawrence 2000). Unable to cope with the psychological trauma, other women turned to drug and alcohol abuse. 

The sterilization of Native American women affected their entire communities. Due to the inability to reproduce, the tribe would lose the number of people in its community. This would mean “they would lose political power within their council” (Lawrence 2000). In addition, other tribes would not respect tribes that were affected by sterilization, because they believed they were weak and unfit to protect their women (Lawrence 2000).

It was not until 1976 when Congress passed the Indian Healthcare Improvement Act. That the sterilization programs ceased. This legislation allowed Native Americans to manage their own health services program. While Native Americans could go to other medical providers after the Indian healthcare improvement Act was passed, Native Americans did not trust medical physician and the relationship between Native Americans and the government was hindered (Lawrence 2000).




Citations
Blackhawk, N. (1995). I Can Carry on from Here: The Relocation of American Indians to Los Angeles. Wicazo Sa Review, 11(2), 16-30. doi:10.2307/1409093

Lawrence, J. (2000). The Indian Health Service and the Sterilization of Native American Women. The American Indian Quarterly, 24(3), 400-419. doi:10.1353/aiq.2000.0008

Pourier, L. T. (Director). (2013). Urban Rez [Video file]. United States: RMPBS. Retrieved October 8, 2018, from https://www.pbs.org/video/rmpbs-specials-urban-rez/




6 comments:

Taylor Morris said...

This is very sad because it hits home for me since I am of Native descent. I didn't know that Native women were being sterilized for so long just to keep extinct Native Americans. Why cant they be accepted, loved and cared for. I feel bad for the women who cant have children and are going through divorce, mental health and other problems because of this. No woman should be denied right to bring life into this world.

Anonymous said...

Wow. I had never heard of Sterilization before until now. The fact that they didn't want women to procreate is sad. Tricking them into signing the papers after finishing a C-section or threatening to take away their kids is ridiculous.
-Kyla Thomas

Anonymous said...

This upsets me a bit. Who are you they to tell a women when and when not to procreate? Also, they had them sign the papers knowing they didnt understand it.Thank god for lawyers today.
-Jasmine Busby

Unknown said...

This is a really hard one. I know that no government was perfect, I just find it so hypocritical in that it goes against everything our country was supposed to stand for. Of course I find in my world history class that it was and is quite common for one group to be cruel to others, I still find it hard that we don't learn from these mistakes. Actions like these are detrimental and toxic to the entire population.

Tori Spencer

Kisura Gunter said...

i have never heard of sterilization until this post. It is sad that they didn't even know what they were signing and these things happened to them. This kind of reminds me of the Obijwa reading when they began talking about their land and getting it back

Anonymous said...

Whenever i learned about the forced sterilization of Native women it was always presented as a thing of the past so its shocking to see how recently the program was implemented

Petra Andrei