Iveta Cervenakova, 32, was forcibly sterilized after the birth of her second daughter 11 years ago. Now, a Czech appeals court has ruled that the hospital which performed the unwanted procedure owes Iveta no compensation aside from an apology.
Ms. Cervenakova was among possibly as many as a quarter of a million Roma (Gypsy) women sterilized against their will in the Czech Republic. This practice ceased only recently.
Cervenakova originally was awarded around US $26,000 in compensation from the hospital which sterilized her during her Caesarean section. The October, 2007 ruling was hailed as a bittersweet victory by advocacy organizations seeking to raise public awareness of the illegal sterilization of Roma women. However, the appeals court overturned the ruling on November 5, 2008, on the grounds that a three-year statute of limitations for forcible sterilization cases had expired.
Iveta Cervenakova says she disagrees with the ruling and intends to take her case to the Supreme Court. "An apology is not enough. I only signed consent with Caesarean section on the operation table and there was no talk about sterilisation," she told journalists.
If you found this post interesting, you might also be interested in reading about a proposed plan to force "unfit mothers" in the Netherlands to take contraception, or a woman with a traumatic brain injury's battle to avoid forced tubal ligation.
