Sixteen US states, including Indiana, lack any statutory protection against the involuntarily sterilization of a person with a disability by his or her guardian. Indiana House Bill 2290 (Sterilization of Adults with Disabilities Under Guardianship) would amend Indiana state law to prohibit sterilization of a ward with a disability without their consent, except in cases of life-saving medical procedures, or if a court order determines that the ward cannot consent, and sterilization is in the ward's best interest.
Under current Indiana state law, a guardian of an adult with a disability can request they be sterilized without a court order or the consent of the person facing sterilization.
One father only found out that the mother and legal guardian of his child intended to have his adult daughter sterilized when he received a notice that his insurance company would not cover the procedure. The father in this case found out in time to intervene on his daughter's behalf, but what if the insurance company had agreed to pay? An adult woman might have been sterilized against her will, without her father's knowledge.
The advocacy group Equip for Equality says it has recently represented four Indiana clients, each an adult with a disability under legal guardianship, opposing their involuntary sterilization. According to EFE, "
A young woman with a traumatic brain injury
came to EFE for assistance on an unrelated matter. In reviewing her guardianship file, EFE
discovered that her guardian had filed a petition to have our client
involuntarily sterilized. Our client had
no knowledge of the pending petition.
She was sexually active and had been using various methods of
contraception successfully for several years.
She expressed that if she someday married, she wished to have a child."
F.R.I.D.A. (Feminist Response in Disability Activism) has asked people with disabilities and Indiana residents interested in the rights of people with disabilities to take action in support of Indiana HB 2290. Information on contacting key decision-makers to make a comment on this bill can be found on the Justice For All blog.
What do you think? Do you support Indiana HB 2290? Should people with disabilities severe enough to require a legal guardian retain their reproductive rights, except when sterilization is medically necessary?
Related: 14 Women Forcibly Sterilized in Russian Psychiatric Institutions
Photo by AJP79.
