ICE Forced Sterilizations & An American Heroine

It’s 1830. President Andrew Jackson demands his troops to kill women and children to destroy native populations. Then in the late 19th and mid 20th century, Native American women are being forcibly sterilized by white colonizers. It is now the 1970s. The sexual and reproductive rights of over a quarter of Native American women have been violated, leaving 3,406 Native American women sterilized.

It’s 1845. James Marion Sims, the “Father of Modern Gynecology,” is conducting hundreds of invasive medical experiments on enslaved Black women. These experiments are being conducted without anesthesia and without consent. Three women, Anarcha, Betsey and Lucy are the topmost recorded cases, with Anarcha undergoing a series of 30 excruciating experimental procedures within the timespan of 3 years.

It’s 1937. Law 116 is enacted, the last eugenics sterilization law passed by the United States. It was funded by the United States’ Eugenics Board. Thirty years later, in the 1960s, one-third of all Puerto Rican women have been sterilized by health department officials sent by the U.S government. This was while being coerced, forced and denied informed consent.

Now, it’s 2020. You would think these practices are over. But Dr. Mahendra Amin is being accused of conducting unnecessary and unwanted hysterectomies on immigrant women detained at the Irwin County Detention Center (ICDC) in Ocilla, Georgia. A whistleblower, nurse Dawn Wooten, who previously worked at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility and was suddenly demoted in July, reports mass hysterectomies and alleged medical neglect in a complaint filed to the Department of Homeland Security inspector general on Monday, September 14.

Dr. Amin, dubbed the “the uterus collector,” by Wooten. Dr. Amin is not even being a board-certified OB-GYN, according to a spokesperson for the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

These allegations emerge among reports of systemic sexual abuse by ICE staff, refusal to test detainees to keep COVID-19 numbers artificially low and unnecessarily transferring detained immigrants during a global pandemic.

While these are (currently) just allegations, the United State’s history of violating women of color’s sexual autonomy has been active and undeniable since Columbus reached the New World.

The obvious is this: If true, the mass unwanted hysterectomies performed on these women are a gross human rights violation and an act of genocide, as defined by the United Nations.

But what if it’s not true?

If it’s not true, a Black woman, Wooten, would have exposed her identity and risked her life to make up a lie that would only be covered ever so briefly on mainstream news outlets.

Risked her life? is a question you may be asking yourself. Well how did she do that? To that, I respond with this: Look outside. Wake up.

Whistleblowing comes with enormous risks. Now those risks on top of being a Black woman in America, is an overwhelming amount of risks.

Wooten risked the livelihood of herself and her 5 children for being the spokesperson of the (alleged) inhumane practices occurring at ICDC.

In the past few months, we have seen Black women and allies pleading “Protect Black Women” and right now, we should be protecting Dawn Wooten at all costs.

But aren’t Black women protected? No, no they are not. We have seen this since Black women were placed in public, nude physical auction examinations to determine reproductive ability during slavery. We saw it in the Jezebel stereotype imposed onto Black women during slavery. Jezebel, it was claimed, desired sexual relations with white men; therefore, white men could not rape Black women.

We have seen this during the peak of American minstrelsy, where Black women were played by white men in costume with exaggerated features and painted faces, often appearing hyper-masculine. Sound familiar? It was the origins of blackface.

We have seen it on the medical maltreatment of Black people due to the myth that Black people do not feel pain. Black women are actively withheld medical care due to this belief. This belief shows why black women are often dismissed when expressing medical concerns or symptoms. This shows, because Black women are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

We have seen it with the murder of Breonna Taylor. An innocent Black woman shot to death, in her own home, in her sleep. Out of the three officers at the scene, only one was charged, solely with wanton endangerment charges. It has been 195 days since her death. No justice.

So, where do you go when you see women going through what your community has been experiencing for centuries? Where do you go when the country built on the blood and sweat of your ancestors was not built to protect you?

Where can you go when the men placed in power to protect and serve do not cater to the protection of people who look like you? Where do you go when women that look just like you are murdered in their own home? Where do you go when your own home isn’t your haven anymore?

You go outside. You speak up. You back up the 16 brave immigrant women who have stepped forward about injustices they have experienced at the expense of their bodily autonomy. You don’t allow fear to cloud your judgment of justice.

That is what Wooten is doing for the immigrant women who are not being given a voice. For immigrant women who do not understand their rights. For immigrant women whose lives are being dismissed and set aside by a system that doesn’t protect women, and never has.