Forced sterilizations are commonly thought to be an unethical practice of the past, but that is not the case. This issue was explored at the College of Law through a discussion with Regents’ Professor and Bobby Lee Cook Professor of Law Paul Lombardo and Attorney Sarah Owings (J.D. ’07) of Owings MacNorlin Immigration Law.
The event “Modern-Day Eugenics and Reproductive Injustice,” was co-sponsored by the Center for Law, Health & Society, Center for Access to Justice, and Immigration Clinic. It featured clips from Belly of the Beast, a film that follows a woman involuntarily sterilized while in a California prison and a human rights lawyer who fought to expose this reproductive injustice.
According to a California state audit, between 2005 and 2013 at least 144 female inmates were sterilized in four different California prisons. An investigation determined that a prison physician Dr. James Heinrich performed a significant number of the operations. He claimed the money on the procedures was well spent compared to what the state would spend in welfare for unwanted children.
“His attitude towards the patients would echo what I would consider the most blatant eugenics sentiments,” said Lombardo.
Lombardo became involved with Belly of the Beast in 2014 when he met with the film’s director, Erika Cohn. She later asked for his support in the film which he gave saying the film would expose eugenic features of our country’s correctional system.
“From the earliest days in the eugenics movement, prisons and other institutions were seen as tools for preventing reproduction from disfavored groups,” Lombardo said. “The rallying cry of eugenicists in those days was ‘segregation and sterilization’. They thought by locking people up in institutions they would be precluded from reproducing and if they were subjected to sterilization before their release, then their children would not be a burden to society.”
Since the film came out, California has since authorized funding for reparations to victims of coerced sterilizations in state prisons. But unwanted medical procedures being forced on people is still a prevalent problem today. Immigration attorney Sarah Owings witnessed similar atrocities against immigrants held at a south Georgia detention center last year.
In September 2020, a report by Project South was released highlighting the conditions in Irwin County Detention Center. It mentioned a pattern of coerced sterilization.
“It was like a bomb went off,” Owings said. “We began getting calls really quickly through my role with the American Immigration Lawyers Association. We learned other women in the facility were having these problems and started hearing horror stories.”
Owings said it’s very difficult in federal facilities that are privately owned to get anyone to investigate; the affiliated parties try to pin the responsibility on each other. Ultimately Owings and her colleagues were able to identify about 70 women who were treated by the same physician.
“Most of the women had no idea what happened to their bodies and there was a pattern of overtreatment that tended towards sterilization,” Owings said.
In May of 2021, it was announced that immigration detainees would no longer be housed at Irwin County Detention Center and there is an ongoing investigation. Both Owings and Lombardo agree the lesson to take away from this is that it can happen anywhere, and it will take an interdisciplinary approach to prevent these acts from happening in the future.
“It requires people in advocacy organizations, journalists, lawyers and others to come together,” said Lombardo. “I don’t necessarily think it’s a system problem, the laws are in place, but you have to know to look for them, and then identify the people who are doing the work.”
You can view the entire event here.
Written by Mara Thompson