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News > Mexico

Mexico: Migrant Women Sterilization "Unacceptable" Gov'T Says

  •  The authorities consider that more potential cases can appear as the investigation continues.

    The authorities consider that more potential cases can appear as the investigation continues. | Photo: EFE/EPA/ David Maung

Published 22 September 2020
Opinion

As nearly as 150 incarcerated women in California prisons were sterilized between 2006 and 2010.

Mexico's Foreign Minister Marcelo Brand confirmed that the authorities are interviewing six women involved in a denounce over forced sterilization and sexual abuse at a U.S. immigration detention center in Georgia.

RELATED:

Mexico Asks US for Information on Sterilized Migrant Women

"We already have contact with six of the women who could potentially have been subjected to this type of procedure. I estimate that tomorrow we will finish interviewing everyone who potentially could have had this," the official explained.

Mexican authorities requested information from the U.S. on September 18. This after U.S. advocacy groups Project South and the Government Accountability Project issued a denounce that 17 women were submitted to unauthorized hysterectomies at the Irwin County detention center in Georgia state.

If the information is verified that women went through removing their reproductive organs without their knowledge and consent, it would be "unacceptable" and sanctions will be taken, Mexicos' chancellor stressed. However, authorities consider that more potential cases can appear as the investigation continues. 

"This has to be cleared up. If it is confirmed, it would be a major issue and not only should be punished but also other measures would be taken," Brand added but did not give further details.

On the other hand, 173 members of the U.S. Congress led by Representative Pramila Jayapal demanded on September 16 the immediate opening of a full investigation by the Department of Homeland Security.

"These reports hearken back to a dark time in U.S. history in which 32 states passed eugenic-sterilization laws, resulting in the sterilization of between 60 and 70 thousand people in the early 1900s," the statement recalls.

"This practice continued for incarcerated individuals into recent times, as nearly as 150 incarcerated women in California prisons were sterilized between 2006 and 2010," the senators remarked.

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