Forced Sterilization Research Articles

The Essential Writings of Vannevar Bush edited by G. Pascal Zachary

<i>The Essential Writings of Vannevar Bush</i> edited by G. Pascal Zachary

A Blueprint for Genetic Determinism

A Blueprint for Genetic Determinism

Perception of coercion during contraceptive counseling among individuals with HIV

ObjectiveHistorically, individuals with HIV have reported feeling coerced during contraceptive counseling or experienced forced sterilization. The purpose of this study was to assess perceptions of coercion related to counseling and influence on postpartum contraceptive choice among individuals with HIV. MethodsThis is a mixed methods study conducted in Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina between March 2020 and June 2021. Participants completed a survey to assess their experiences with contraception counseling and perceived coercion. An Interpersonal Quality of Family Planning (IQFP) care score was calculated to assess quality of counseling. Qualitative analyses were performed on narrative responses. Bivariate and regression analyses were used to evaluate factors associated with perceived coercion and IQFP scores. Results100 surveys were collected. The median age of respondents was 29 (IQR 24–35). The median IQFP score was 53 (IQR 44–55) and 45 % of individuals had a maximum IQFP score of 55. Most individuals (96 %) report that a provider “did a good job” explaining contraceptive options and 26 % report their provider’s preference affected their contraceptive choice to some degree. Few (11 %) respondents felt pressured to use long-acting reversible contraception postpartum. This perceived coercion was more likely when a provider suggested a specific contraceptive method, aOR 6.1 [95 % CI 1.1–33.1] and such specific provider suggestions were reported by one-third of respondents. ConclusionWhile perceived coercion was reported by few individuals with HIV, it was strongly associated with the provider making a specific method suggestion. Disproportionate provider influence in the final contraceptive decision occurred in one-quarter of individuals. More research is needed to discern to what extent provider preference compromises patient autonomy in shared decision-making.

Bruno Schulz and his 1926 Article: "Regarding the Problem of Determining Hereditary Prognosis. The Affliction Prospects for Nephews and Nieces of Schizophrenics".

Authored by one of Rüdin's most productive colleagues, Bruno Schulz, the main goal of this article was to estimate risk for dementia praecox (DP) in nieces/nephews (n/n) of DP probands to address practical questions for genetic counseling. Schulz selected 76 primary probands from records of the genealogical department of the German Research Institute of Psychiatry who both had DP and had siblings-secondary probands-with children aged 20 years or greater. Those children had a morbid risk for DP of 1.4%, much lower than that found in the offspring of DP in Hoffmann's study. However, the secondary probands had much lower rates of DP than the unselected siblings of DP cases studied by Rüdin. So rates of DP in n/n of DP probands are likely lower than expected theoretically because the secondary probands are being indirectly selected for a lowered genetic risk for DP by having successfully reproduced. Schulz diagnosed eccentric and other disordered personalities in the secondary probands and their spouses and presented evidence that other disordered personalities but especially eccentric personalities in parents were related to the risk of both eccentricity and DP in their children, the n/n of the DP probands. Eugenic issues play a minor role in this article. Although generally supportive of eugenic goals, historical sources document that Schulz was opposed to the National Socialists and actively attempted to protect Jews and his patients from involuntary sterilization. This complicates attempts to judge the morality of the work of the Rüdin school as a single unit.

Introduction to "The Beginnings of Systematic Studies of the Genetics of Schizophrenia: 1916-1933".

We here want to introduce this special issue of Schizophrenia Bulletin by providing some background about the history of psychiatric genetics before 1910, the choice of the 5 papers here examined, the methodology we used in writing these papers, the relevance for contemporary psychiatric genetics and a background on our approach to the relationship of the authors of these papers to the eugenic, racist policies of the German National Socialists that led to the large-scale involuntary sterilization of the mentally ill, and the K-4 program of wide-scale murder of mentally ill and handicapped children and adults and the Holocaust. We recommend that interested individuals read the 5 papers in order as this will help them see the historical progression of the methods and results in this early phase of psychiatric genetics research. To appreciate the papers reviewed in this special issue, it is helpful to understand the status of the field of psychiatric genetics circa 1910, before the first important papers based on the rediscovery of Mendel’s work in 1900. K.S.K. has recently written a review paper covering this literature “The Pre-History of Psychiatric Genetics: 1780-1910”,1 which can be consulted by readers interested in this topic. Briefly, in the 19th century, far and away the most common data point used in the psychiatric genetic investigation was a statement in an asylum record of the presence or absence of a “hereditary burden” for the patient, a term broadly congruent with what we might now call a “positive family history.” However, its use was complicated by the fact that across different hospitals, different groups of relatives were included (eg, direct ancestors only, eg, parents and grandparents or direct + collateral including aunts/uncles and potentially siblings), and different conditions were considered as affected (narrowly defined insanity, more broadly defined mental illness, alcoholism, eccentricities, epilepsy, etc.). Few of these relatives were ever personally examined by the alienist recording this information. Common topics of interest at that time included the relationship between a heredity burden and the sex of the patient, the recurrence of episodes of insanity, and the degree of homogeneity versus heterogeneity of transmission of mental illnesses in families.1,2 No formal theories of hereditary transmission were ever examined as the first detailed application of both the biometrical school of Galton and Pearson and Mendelian theory to insanity were not published until the first and second decades of the 20th century.3–8

Canada’s Hidden History of Medical Violence: An Intersectional Feminist Perspective

Medical violence in the Canadian historical narrative is often overlooked in favour of progress and current advancements. Yet, to deliver compassionate care to all patients requires an understanding and acknowledgement of the medical community’s past and persisting transgressions. The legalization and forced sterilization of Indigenous women is not only an example of blatant disregard for informed consent, but an egregious and continued trauma highlighting the medical community’s policing of marginalized female bodies. In the 1900s and deeply rooted in eugenic theory, sexual sterilization in Canada was framed as the solution for vast disparities in economic classes and social inequities. Indigenous women were disproportionately targeted and vilified by both the Canadian government and the practicing medical body. Such measures nearly halved birth rates in Indigenous populations in as little as two decades. The sociocultural effects of Canada’s medical violence are clear today; laws have yet to pass banning forced sterilization in Indigenous communities, and stereotypes of the ‘promiscuous’ Indigenous woman are cited in current clinical cases with devastating consequences. This article aims to contribute to discourse regarding the violent history of forced sterilization of Indigenous women and describe its institutionalization by the Canadian government as a public health measure with ongoing implications in perpetuating structural racism.

Know Where You Stand: Affective Effects of Becoming Aware of a Place's National Socialist History.

Visiting historical places can give important impulses regarding education of history, society, and politics. While there does exist extensive research on visitors' experiences at memorial sites, little is known about the impact of everyday places holding dark history. Two experimental studies took place in a research institute, a former women's clinic, where in the time of National Socialist (NS) dictatorship in Germany hundreds of forced sterilizations took place. Historical awareness was manipulated via systematic variation of prior information. We found partial evidence that historical awareness had a negative effect on personal mood. Awareness of the site's NS history had a negative effect on the perceived valence of related photos but did not influence their qualitative description. Also, there was partial evidence that the site itself was perceived less positively and evoked more arousal when participants were aware of its NS history. Possible reasons are discussed.

Forced Sterilization

Forced Sterilization

Technology for Improving Street Dog Welfare and Capturing Data in Digital Format during Street Dog Sterilisation Programmes.

Simple SummaryHumane Society International (HSI) facilitates dog sterilisation programmes internationally, which includes population surveys of street dogs to gain basic demographic information and to set a baseline for future monitoring operations. HSI has developed a web and mobile application suite called ‘HSIApps’ with custom tailored workflows to improve the efficiency (lower programmatic cost) and improve the welfare of dogs in care throughout the sterilisation process. The Android-based mobile app is simple and easy to use for teams in the field. The web app has data dashboards, record views, and reports for monitoring and evaluation purposes. The use of such digital applications can improve dog population management programme implementation, ensure positive outcomes for dogs postoperatively, and facilitate programmatic monitoring and evaluation. We describe here the use of this application and insights gained through its use in HSI’s street dog monitoring, evaluation, and impact assessment (MEIA) programmes in India.Street dogs survive on food handouts provided by individuals, or the wider community yet typically receive limited to no veterinary care. They can also carry a variety of zoonotic diseases such as rabies, posing a significant risk to human and dog population health. Dog sterilisation is one of the most humane and effective methods available to control street dog populations. Dog sterilisation programmes, particularly those operating at a large-scale, often face a variety of challenges including limited resources, staffing, and less-than-ideal facilities. Recordkeeping is often a challenge as well, which can complicate the return of a sterilised dog to their location of capture. Street dogs are territorial, and the return of a dog to an incorrect location is fraught with various welfare issues, as well as an increased risk of postoperative complications, including death. Humane Society International developed a mobile phone-based application called ‘HSIApps’ drawing on years of field experience and data collection in street dog location recording, as well as clinical and postoperative treatment. HSIApps facilitates the return of dogs back to their exact captured location, which ensures dog welfare, and generates reports of a variety of useful data variables to maximise the efficacy and reliability of sterilisation programmes.

The Transnational Defence of Mexican American Children’s Rights in Depression-era California

ABSTRACT This article is a comparative event study of a series of children’s rights disputes concerning the Mexican American community in California during the Great Depression. To stand up against abuses in reformatory schools, eugenic sterilisation and school segregation, Mexican Americans pursued a variety of strategies which reflected the dualities of Mexican American identities. These events demonstrate that Mexican origin struggles and advocacy for their children's rights were not just reactionary or localised but part of a historical tradition. Furthermore, the article underlines the vitality of the study of children and childhood to the study of Civil Rights in Chicanx/Latinx Studies.

Aligning Faith with Medicine: Medical Ethics, Reproduction and Catholic Morality in Francophone and Anglophone Normative Literature, c. 1840–1960*

This paper focuses on intersections of medical ethics and religious commitments by charting conceptions of the Catholic doctor in French and English‐language normative texts from the mid‐nineteenth to the mid‐twentieth century. Behavioural norms for doctors were increasingly emphasised in writings on pastoral medicine, especially regarding obstetrics and advice on sexual hygiene, with the Ten Commandments and the Sacraments forming the initial ethical framework. From the 1890s, Catholic medical deontology emerged as a genre in its own right, reflecting a distinct identity of Catholic doctors in medical faculties and in their own professional societies. Simultaneously, the range of topics broadened. While traditional issues of reproductive ethics such as medical abortion and emergency baptism remained central concerns, eugenic sterilisation and euthanasia posed new challenges. Catholic doctors were now expected to take on a social role that went beyond the care of their individual patients, especially in questions of population politics. A popular contributor to the eugenics debate was the French medical scientist Alexis Carrel.

Traditions and trust: a qualitative study of barriers to facility-based obstetric and immediate neonatal care in Chiapas, Mexico

ABSTRACT Poor access and quality of intrapartum and postpartum health care contribute to high global maternal and neonatal mortality rates and intracountry inequity. We examined barriers to careseeking and health care utilization for obstetric and immediate neonatal care in Chiapas, a state with one of the largest indigenous populations and poorest health indicators in Mexico. We conducted 74 in-depth interviews with recently delivered women, their male partners, and traditional birth attendants, and 27 interviews with health facility and hospital staff in rural Chiapas. Interviews were conducted and recorded in Tzeltal and Ch’ol; data were transcribed, coded and analyzed in Spanish using thematic analysis techniques. Barriers to utilization of facility delivery that were reported in order of frequency were: (1) economic and geographic barriers; (2) traditions incompatible with facility policies; (3) fear or previous experience of mistreatment or abuse; (4) perceived poor quality care at facilities; (5) language and political barriers. Commonly reported barriers included distance, cost, lack of vehicles, and poor perceived quality of care, as well as linguistic barriers, lack of space, and fears of surgery or mistreatment. Some women reported obstetric violence and rights violations, including two cases of possible forced sterilizations, an unauthorized transfer of a newborn to another facility without consent or accompaniment of a guardian, and one failure to discharge a newborn because the family could not pay. Political conflict in the region contributed to additional barriers such as reduced trust in government facilities, and physical roadblocks during political activities. Improving geographic and economic access to obstetric and neonatal care can contribute to improved service utilization, but uptake of services can only be improved if quality of care, including communication and consent, are addressed. Historical and current relationships between various stakeholder and political groups should be considered when planning programs, which should be created as collaboratively as possible.

The Women's National Abortion Action Coalition &amp; the Abortion Tribunals, 1971–1972

The Women's National Abortion Action Coalition organized for abortion rights, an end to forced sterilization, and accessible birth control. From its formation in July 1971 to its demise with the January 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, it was an inclusive, far-reaching network that spearheaded the call for reproductive justice. Assembling a coalition, including high school and college students and those who called themselves Third World women (Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American women), the group held marches, protests, and in the fall of 1972 abortion tribunals across the country, holding men in power accountable for the oppression of women.

Physician complicity in human rights violations: Involuntary sterilization among women from Mexico and Central America seeking asylum in the United States

Involuntary sterilization is a violation of human rights and grounds for asylum in the United States. Forensic medical evaluations can be useful in documenting this form of persecution and supporting asylees’ claims for immigration relief. We conducted a retrospective case analysis of the personal and medical affidavits of 14 asylum-seeking women from four Latin America countries who all reported they had been involuntarily sterilized. Sixty-four percent said that “consent” was coerced; the remainder were unaware of having been sterilized at the time of the procedure. In all cases, findings on hysterosalpingogram were consistent with sterilization, revealing that all 14 had undergone a tubal ligation. Eighty-six percent of the women had been sterilized at the time of childbirth. The healthcare providers involved in the 14 cases failed to obtain informed consent, misled patients about sterilization, engaged in discriminatory behavior, and/or breached patient confidentiality regarding their HIV-status. All 14 asylum cases were defensive; of the 7 cases (50%) that have been decided to date, 100% have been granted asylum.

HF01-08 INDIA’S HISTORY OF MASS STERILIZATION

You have accessJournal of UrologyCME1 May 2022HF01-08 INDIA’S HISTORY OF MASS STERILIZATION Rainjade Chung, Jane Kurtzman, and Steven Brandes Rainjade ChungRainjade Chung More articles by this author , Jane KurtzmanJane Kurtzman More articles by this author , and Steven BrandesSteven Brandes More articles by this author View All Author Informationhttps://doi.org/10.1097/JU.0000000000002541.08AboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints ShareFacebookLinked InTwitterEmail Abstract INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: A mass sterilization campaign took place in India at the height of “The Emergency” in 1976, during which 6.2 million men underwent vasectomies to limit population growth. METHODS: A comprehensive literature search of Pubmed, Google Scholar, and historical documents was done. RESULTS: The campaign of mass sterilization in India is best understood in the historical context of “The Emergency,” a controversial 21-month period from 1975-1977 during which Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency, cancelling elections and suspending civil liberties. The perfect storm of recent war with Pakistan, food shortages, inflation, and political unrest laid the foundation for political instability. Efforts to address economic and food crises caused in part by overpopulation were coordinated on the international stage. The World Bank gave India the largest amount of international aid for sterilization programs at $66 million USD from 1972-1980. International pressure, particularly from Western countries, was intense. US President Lyndon B. Johnson denied food aid to India in 1965, a time of critical food shortage, until it agreed to incentivize sterilization. The aggressive coercion and politicization of the 1976 campaign has made it a striking part of India’s history. Officials believed that mandatory sterilization would contribute to poverty reduction and was thus critically important to fuel India’s economic growth. Vasectomy quotas were imposed for each state and people were forced to show proof of sterilization to receive their salary or medical treatment. Positive incentives were implemented in some states, paying nearly one month’s salary to be sterilized. Vasectomy camps and traveling clinics became common and efficient. At one point, camps in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, were able to do 5,664 vasectomies a day. Targeted populations included the poor, illiterate people, prisoners, and homeless men. Men were herded onto buses and taken to hospitals for vasectomies. There was no leniency for unmarried or childless men. There was no follow up care and it is estimated that thousands died of infection. After the Emergency, sterilization plummeted and the backlash of the aggressive campaign contributed to Indira Gandhi's ousting in the subsequent election. CONCLUSIONS: Since 1976, the focus of sterilization in India has shifted to women. 4.5 million women undergo sterilization per year with half of the female population sterilized by age 35. Unfortunately, India’s history of government funded population control is not unique; other countries have their own dark history of compulsory sterilization. Source of Funding: None © 2022 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 207Issue Supplement 5May 2022Page: e214 Advertisement Copyright & Permissions© 2022 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.MetricsAuthor Information Rainjade Chung More articles by this author Jane Kurtzman More articles by this author Steven Brandes More articles by this author Expand All Advertisement PDF DownloadLoading ...

Evaluation of Vaccination Strategy Against Rabies in Hong Kong Macaques.

The objectives of this study were to assess the serological response to rabies vaccination in Hong Kong macaques and provide evidence-based recommendations for the vaccination interval implemented by the Government of Hong Kong. An inactivated rabies vaccine was administered subcutaneously to captured macaques under a mass sterilization program in Hong Kong. Blood samples from the animals were collected in a 2015 field survey and stored in −80°C freezer. In 2021, the frozen sera from vaccinated animals were prepared and tested for antibodies against the rabies virus using a commercial blocking enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test. Sixty-five samples were available from the vaccinated macaques that had received at least one dose of the vaccine between 2008 and 2015. The interval between the first vaccination and blood sampling ranged from 21 to 2,779 days (median: 990). Only five macaques had a second vaccination record at the sampling time, all with high antibody levels. Among the remaining macaques, 77% (46/60) were positive for rabies antibodies. No specific association was observed between the post-vaccination period and the antibody titer of these macaques, and no adverse reactions were reported. Although the precise level of protection against a potential challenge with the rabies virus cannot be ascertained, the vaccination elicited rabies antibodies in 87% (21/24) of the macaques tested within 2.5 years of their first vaccination. Our findings indicate the potential benefits of the current vaccination strategy to protect the population from rabies and consequential mandatory culling of all macaques if a natural infection occurs.

World Rabies Day 2020: Kolaborasi Berkualitas dan Vaksinasi Tuntas untuk Kalimantan Barat Bebas Rabies

Rabies is a zoonotic disease that has been known for a long time. This infection attacks the central nervous system with the main sign of progressive paralysis and ending in death. Transmission can occur when humans are bitten by animals infected with rabies. Some animals can transmit rabies, especially dogs and cats. In commemoration of World Rabies Day, the Food, Animal Husbandry and Animal Health Office of West Kalimantan Province provides free services in the form of rabies vaccination and dog and cat sterilization. This activity is not only aimed at providing rabies vaccination services for dogs and cats in the vicinity of Pontianak and Kubu Raya, but also at the same time educating pet owners about rabies. Data collection was carried out by observing and documenting activities. Data analysis was carried out in descriptions that describe the process of activities. This activity was carried out in the Hall of the Food, Animal Husbandry and Animal Health Service of West Kalimantan Province on September 26, 2020. Of the target 100 doses can only be given as many as 71 doses consisting of 54 doses for cats and 17 doses for dogs, while sterilization was successfully carried out on 15 individuals. Cats and 15 dogs. Vaccination, which is usually given to rabies-infected animals, is a very effective preventive measure. Through the sterilization program, it is hoped that it can reduce the overpopulation of dogs and dogs.

Compulsory female sterilisation in Brazil: reproductive rights for whom?

Family planning programmes have been implemented throughout the world since the mid-20th century. In Brazil, the act governing family planning has been law for 25 years. However, the concept does not seem to be well known, being understood as contraceptives distribution. This article discusses Brazilian family planning policies, using a compulsory sterilisation lawsuit – reported by the media – to illustrate one of the many facets of gender-based violence in Brazil. This article is based on documentary research and uses a qualitative approach, applying content analysis to three selected texts. Only the news report that made the case public directly mentions the Family Planning Law and questions the suppression of reproductive rights. It was clear that conservatism was present in the actions of the judiciary, which appeared to be selective when choosing whose rights should be protected, denying poor women’s reproductive rights and upholding coercive birth control for the most deprived groups in the population.

Blood Brothers

Blood Brothers Xavier Navarro Aquino (bio) We wanted to steal it. The famed six-hundred-ton Cristóbal Colón statue that made the rounds across the Atlantic, trying to find its permanent home, rejected by Uncle Sam, all but forsaken, eventually snuck its way onto our island as quietly as an angry ex looking to get even. We saw on Noticentro the news about Cris. His ugly Greek head, showing no features that resembled a massive human face. At his base were these terribly sculpted ships and waves. All of it something a toddler must've drawn up. We knew the logistics were against us. But stealing the head of Cris seemed possible. The guys had gotten notorious for sneaking out of construction sites with copper and metal and selling it cheap to contractors. We had contacts in Vega Baja and Hatillo that Danny made. They were his go-to people. But that was before Danny got caught in attempted armed robbery. After that, he was hotter than asphalt in June. No one wanted a piece of him. Now he was out on parole and living at Tata's. Only visited Tito Lomo on that rare occasion. As news broke of Cris, and Danny got to daydreaming, the government let everyone in Lomo know our neighborhood school was being shut down. Lack of funding, no teachers, the usual. Except word also got out that our illustrious alcalde wanted Lomo shut down too. We'd have nowhere to live. Yariel was a lobster hand. Danny never liked when he tagged along because he had difficulty carrying shit and had us a couple of times get close and personal with the cops. Yari was much older than us but wanted to keep his young soul together. Danny would strip Yari of his dignity when he got pissed, reminded him of the cocaine sniffing his mom must've done while in labor. And that it was no wonder she got her tubes tied by the government. "That's not how it went," Yari would say. He was right. His mom and her generation were all part of that famed forced sterilization in Puerto [End Page 126] Rico. Danny knew too, but it never stopped him from poking fun at Yari. I let him tussle Yari around for the spectacle. "She's a snorter, Yari. You're lucky to have come out of that chocha in one piece," I'd say to him, playing stupid. "That's not what happened to her! She didn't ask—" "Cool it, Yari!" Danny said. "The sixties were a good time. The important thing is you're alive, right. Even if you're all monstruo looking. El chakal's very spawn. The likes which hit the feo tree. Every. Leaf. Down." He danced in a circle and smacked my hand whenever we cornered him. Yari's eyes would water. He'd sit there, recién nacido, his old face pruned up in search of his mom's pezón. Yet he always stuck by us, sucking on our words like nectar. Ma had taken to ignoring me and Danny. Her disappointment weighed on the glares she gave us whenever we hung out together at Lomo. We were done with high school and our career prospectus went up in smoke. After a decade bumming around, neither Danny or me managed out of school, and even though we laminated our resumes with glossy details, the jobs wouldn't return calls. I was Ma's biggest disappointment. Still living at home while Danny, like a pariah, only came around to reconvene with the guys and start trouble. My grades had been top of the class. Danny, however, barely graduated. I felt guilty. So, I loitered around. Didn't look to attend college. Didn't want to leave home. But Ma. She repeated to me with emphasis, tu eres la gran desepción. Her method of coping with all her disappointment became sleeping her days away. Never moved to brush her teeth in the mornings, or bathe when she got real stinky. Sometimes she'd disappear for days on end. I was grateful that at least Danny was up and moving...

The Norwegian Association for Heredity Research and the Organized International Eugenics Movement. Expertise, Authority, Transnational Networks and International Organization in Norwegian Genetics and Eugenics (1919–1934)

Abstract The Norwegian Association for Heredity Research played a key role in the rise of genetics as a research field in Norway. The immediate background of its establishment in 1919 was the need for an organization that could clarify scientific issues regarding eugenics and coordinate Norwegian representation in the organized international eugenics movement. The Association never assumed this role. Instead, Norway was represented in the international eugenics movement by the so-called Norwegian Consultative Eugenics Commission, whose leader, Jon Alfred Mjøen, was dismissed as a pseudo-scientist by Norwegian geneticists. The paper explores the Association’s role in defining and delimiting scientific expert knowledge in the field of genetics and eugenics in Norway. It demonstrates how struggles about academic authority on the national arena were intertwined with struggles about representation and impact in the international eugenics movement and how transnational scientific networks where mobilized to legitimize and delegitimize notions about Nordic race supremacy, racial mixing and the politics of eugenic sterilizations.