Thread by @LambdaLegal

New reports out of Georgia that an @ICEgov detention center has been performing nonconsensual hysterectomies on detained people are horrifying, and yet another example of this country’s history of mass forced sterilization of marginalized populations.

A THREAD ⬇️

At least 19 states and 2 US territories *require* that transgender and intersex people undergo surgical procedures in order to be legally recognized as who they are. This, in many cases, results in sterilization.

To this day, intersex infants are often subject to cosmetic/medically unnecessary sterilizing surgeries. These are typically performed based on outdated ideas of “normal” sex characteristics, and without the consent of the child or fully-informed consent of the parents.

Today, incarcerated people are also targeted for forced or coerced sterilization, from California's 148+ inmates who received nonconsensual tubal ligations from 2006-2010 to reports of judges offering reduced jail time to people who “volunteer” to be medically sterilized.

And the lives and bodies of LGBTQ people, people of color, poor people, and disabled people (including people living with HIV) are so systemically criminalized by the US “justice” system that this means a higher likelihood of impact by these heinous offenses.

This is evident in everything from 2015’s Rentboy raid to the passage of FOSTA/SESTA to policies like NY’s #WalkingWhileTrans ban, by which police profile trans women, especially trans women of color, for doing things like wearing skirts or standing on street corners.

Raids at gay bars/hangouts have also been commonplace even in recent years. And let’s remember that, despite our Lawrence v. Texas SCOTUS victory in 2003, state restrictions against sodomy remained on the books in many states for years afterward. At least three still exist today.

Put these together and you have an epidemic of mass sterilization.

This country has a historical pattern of abuse against people of color, LGBTQ people, women, disabled people, incarcerated people, and those living in poverty.

This comes as no surprise.