Valencia Journalist Maria Bonillo Vidal (Valencia, 1988) has published the book Wombs in custody. Stories of forced sterilization of women with disabilities. The work is the result of the Josep Torrent investigative journalism grant, which the Alfons el Magnànim institution grants with the Union of Valencian Journalists. The work shows that in Spain, from 1989 to 2020, more than a thousand women were sterilized. And this is an approximate figure, because Bonillo complains that the records are scarce. The situation has not been better in countries around us either: in Norway, until 2016, trans people were forced to be sterilized if they wanted to undergo a sex change operation. The same thing happened in Denmark, until 2014, and in Sweden until 2013.
How was the sterilization of women with disabilities regulated in the State before 2020?
— Since 1989 it was the judge who decided at the behest of the family, with the nuance that in 2005 the reports of experts and the testimony of families or doctors were incorporated. From 2020, the affected person is the one who must give consent. Spain had been in breach of international treaties for years.
Has the situation changed in the EU?
— Yes, in the EU as a whole the debate seems more inclined towards the prohibition of sterilization without the consent of the affected person. In fact, there are nine countries where it is prohibited, the latest being Spain.
During Franco’s regime, there were not so many forced sterilizations.
— It was forbidden by the strong influence of Catholicism, like abortion.
He says sterilizations are based on a negative perception of disability. Has this changed?
— It is a slow change, but it is being achieved thanks to the associations that work with people with disabilities. Ten or fifteen years ago, a family with a person with Down syndrome did not understand why they could not sterilize their daughter. Nowadays, they no longer see the operation as the first resort. They also put an intrauterine device (IUD) or an intradermal implant. Another thing is that they explain to the affected people what these treatments are for. Maybe not as many sterilizations are being done, but the reproduction of disabled people is being prevented. This happens because they are perceived as a social burden and an expense. The numbers of people with Down syndrome, which have decreased greatly, are the most eloquent.
Isn’t that positive?
— I do not consider disability as a negative burden. It’s a complicated life, obviously. It’s not about sugarcoating it, because there are thousands of barriers, especially for parents, usually mothers, who are the people in charge of caring for these people. But this does not mean that they should be eliminated or eradicated. They are people who contribute.
These people have to face very complicated lives.
– Of course. They live with many barriers. But we are talking about the right of these women to decide about their bodies, about their physical integrity. Ablation is considered mutilation, but forced sterilization is not. In addition, I can be born without a disability, but in an unfavorable environment, with parents who are drug addicts, abusers or rapists, and is that life better than that of a person with a disability with a family that loves and integrates them?
The book includes the testimony of a mother who, in despair, defends that she needs her daughter not to be a mother in order not to create more obligations for her.
— That’s why no one can judge these families or the decisions they make. I understand the question: what prevails, the right of the carer to be happy or the right of the other person to live, to be a mother, to develop his life, to receive care…? What cannot be is for this mother to be alone and without institutional support.
Does our society have enough resources to build a network that offers the necessary care?
— The money, if you look for it, you find it. You can cut out a lot of things. It’s a matter of priorities.
2024-04-17 10:49:56
#sterilizations #reproduction #disabled #people #avoided
