Women across the globe face a number of obstacles to having control over their own bodies, including coercive sterilization. Believe it or not, women are still being sterilized without their knowledge or consent, which seems pretty archaic.Women are asked to sign forms, often after giving birth, that are not explained to them. Coercive sterilization is an outrageous violation of women's rights to make decisions and to have control over their bodies. Not to mention there are health risks involved. No one, other than the woman herself, has the right to make the important decision about sterilization. And, getting a woman to sign her consent after giving birth, which I can only assume is absolutely exhausting, without any explantion, does not cut it.
RH Reality Check posted a story today about a Romani woman who was coercively sterilized in 2001 and had her case reffered to CEDAW, who found that her sterilization was a violation of her human rights! Finally, after all these years, the Hungarian government is going to compensate her and decided to amend their Public Health Act to make sure that women recieve appropriate information so that they can actually give informed consent. Score one for CEDAW and women everywhere!
1 comment:
I really appreciated your look at this issue, which is definitely deserving of attention.
However, I do take issue with the photo you chose to accompany the post, as I seriously doubt young, white women are the ones being pressured into sterilization. I know it might seem like I'm nitpicking, but as an artist and a feminist, I feel like the images we choose to represent feminism are just as important sometimes as the words.
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