ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION No. 197

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

219th LEGISLATURE

 

INTRODUCED OCTOBER 19, 2020

 


 

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman  VALERIE VAINIERI HUTTLE

District 37 (Bergen)

Assemblywoman  YVONNE LOPEZ

District 19 (Middlesex)

Assemblywoman  ANNETTE QUIJANO

District 20 (Union)

 

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman Swain, Assemblyman Verrelli and Assemblywoman Carter

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Condemns practice of forced hysterectomies in U.S. ICE facilities.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     As introduced.

  


An Assembly Resolution condemning the practice of forced hysterectomies in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities.

 

Whereas, There is a shameful legacy of United States officials ordering forced sterilization on people without their consent -often disproportionately targeting people of color- in hospitals, prisons, and other state-run facilities; and

Whereas, Forced sterilization was legalized through laws that were driven by racism and cloaked in terms of mental health and fitness; and

Whereas, The state of Indiana passed the first eugenics sterilization law in 1907.  Thirty-one other states followed suit; and

Whereas, Under those laws, about 60,000 people were sterilized in procedures that we would qualify today as being compulsory, forced, involuntary, and under the justifications that the people who were being sterilized were unfit to reproduce; and

Whereas, The laws, which led to officials ordering sterilizations of people they deemed “feeble-minded” or “mentally defective,” later became models for Nazi Germany; and

Whereas, Women and people of color increasingly became the target of forced sterilization laws, as eugenics amplified sexism and racism; and

Whereas, Those who were forced to undergo sterilizations varied from state to state.  In California, people of Mexican descent were disproportionately sterilized, and in North Carolina, African-American women were unduly targeted for forced hysterectomies; and

Whereas, Most of the state laws were repealed by the 1970s.  But the history behind forced sterilization is something scholars are still working to unravel, and this country is still reckoning with; and

Whereas, In recent years some states have issued apologies for forced sterilizations, and awareness about the practice and its place in the history of the United States has grown; and

Whereas, However, new allegations of forced hysterectomies in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities have surfaced, and the country is forced, once again, to face its history of state-sponsored involuntary sterilizations; and

Whereas, In a complaint filed with the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general, a nurse who worked at the ICE’s Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia reported concerns about a high rate of hysterectomies and alleged medical neglect; and

Whereas, Specifically, the complaint accused the center of negligence, including poor safety precautions surrounding the to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and generally hazardous and unsanitary conditions; and

Whereas, According to the whistleblower, an alarmingly high rate of hysterectomies were being performed on Spanish-speaking immigrants, many of whom did not appear to understand why they had undergone the procedure; and

Whereas, The complaint stated that immigrants who spoke out against the conditions at the ICE were regularly pushed into solitary confinement, and the whistleblower was  demoted and reprimanded when she spoke out against these practices; and

Whereas, The United States has a long history of reproductive coercion and forced sterilization, particularly targeting Black, Latina, and Native American women as well as women with disabilities and incarcerated women; and

Whereas, The allegations contained in the complaint filed against the Georgia ICE facility evoke a time when eugenicist practices were often sanctioned by United States law and allowed for the sterilization of anyone deemed “unfit”; and

Whereas, All women living in the United States, regardless of immigration status, are entitled to bodily autonomy and should not be subjected to compulsory and involuntary surgeries, including forced hysterectomies; now, therefore,

 

     Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

     1.    This House condemns the practice of forced hysterectomies in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities and recognizes that all women living in the United States, regardless of immigration status, are entitled to bodily autonomy and should not be subjected to compulsory and involuntary surgeries.

 

     2.    Copies of this resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the Clerk of the General Assembly to the President of the United States, the Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and every member of the New Jersey Congressional delegation.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

     There is a shameful legacy of United States officials ordering forced sterilization on people without their consent -often disproportionately targeting people of color- in hospitals, prisons, and other state-run facilities.

     Under laws that were driven by racism and cloaked in terms of mental health and fitness, about 60,000 people were sterilized in procedures that we would qualify today as being compulsory, forced, involuntary, and under the justifications that the people who were being sterilized were unfit to reproduce.

     In a complaint filed with the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general, a nurse who worked at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia reported concerns about a high rate of hysterectomies and alleged medical neglect.

     The allegations contained in the complaint filed against the Georgia ICE facility evoke a time when eugenicist practices were often sanctioned by United States law and allowed for the sterilization of anyone deemed “unfit.”

     This resolution condemns the practice of forced hysterectomies in ICE facilities and recognizes that all women living in the United States, regardless of immigration status, are entitled to bodily autonomy, and should not be subjected to compulsory and involuntary surgeries.