The U.S. Government's Role in Sterilizing Women of Color
Black, Puerto Rican, and Native American women have been victimized
美国政府秘密绝育有色人种妇女
黑人、波多黎各人和美洲土著妇女都是受害者
Imagine going to the hospital for a common surgical procedure such as an appendectomy, only to find out afterward that you’d been sterilized. In the 20th century, untold numbers of women of color endured such life-altering experiences in part because of medical racism. Black, Native American, and Puerto Rican women report being sterilized without their consent after undergoing routine medical procedures or after giving birth.
想象一下，你去医院做一个普通的手术，比如阑尾切除术，结果却发现你已经绝育了。在20世纪，无数有色人种的女性经历了这种改变人生的经历，部分原因就是医学上的种族歧视。黑人、美洲土著和波多黎各妇女报告说，她们在接受常规医疗程序或分娩后未经同意就被绝育。
Others say they unknowingly signed documentation allowing them to be sterilized or were coerced into doing so. The experiences of these women strained relations between people of color and healthcare personnel. In the 21st century, members of communities of color still widely distrust medical officials.
另一些人说，他们在不知情的情况下签署了允许他们进行消毒的文件，或者是被迫这样做。这些妇女的经历使有色人种和医疗保健人员之间的关系紧张。直到21世纪，有色人种社区的成员仍然普遍不信任医疗人员。
Black Women Sterilized in North Carolina
Countless numbers of Americans who were poor, mentally ill, from minority backgrounds or otherwise regarded as “undesirable” were sterilized as the eugenics movement gained momentum in the United States. Early 20th century eugenicists believed that measures should be taken to prevent "undesirables" from reproducing so that problems such as poverty and substance abuse would be eliminated in future generations. By the 1960s, tens of thousands of Americans were sterilized in state-run eugenics programs, according to investigative reporters for NBC News. North Carolina was one of 31 states to adopt such a program.
北卡罗来纳州的黑人妇女绝育
随着优生学在美国兴起，无数贫穷的、患有精神疾病的、来自少数族裔背景的或被认为“不受欢迎”的美国人被绝育。20世纪早期的优生学家认为，应该采取措施防止“不受欢迎的人”繁殖后代，这样贫困和药物滥用等问题就会在后代中消除。据NBC新闻(NBC News)的调查记者称，到20世纪60年代，数以万计的美国人在国家举办的优生学项目中绝育。北卡罗来纳是31个采用这一计划的州之一。
Between 1929 and 1974 in North Carolina, 7,600 people were sterilized. Out of those sterilized, 85% were women and girls, while 40% were minorities (most of whom were black). The eugenics program was eliminated in 1977 but legislation permitting involuntary sterilization of residents remained on the books until 2003.
1929年至1974年间，北卡罗来纳州有7600人绝育。在绝育的人中，85%是妇女和女孩，40%是少数民族(其中大多数是黑人)。优生学计划在1977年被取消，但允许对居民进行非自愿绝育的立法一直保留到2003年。
Since then, the state has tried to devise a way to compensate those it sterilized. Up to 2,000 victims were believed to be still living in 2011. Elaine Riddick, an African American woman, is one of the survivors. She says she was sterilized after giving birth in 1967 to a child she conceived after a neighbor raped her when she was just 13 years old.
从那时起，美国就试图设计出一种方法来补偿那些被绝育的人。据信2011年仍有2000名受害者活着。非裔美国妇女伊莱恩·瑞迪克(Elaine Riddick)是幸存者之一。她说，她在1967年生下一个孩子后被绝育，那是她13岁时被邻居非礼后怀上的。
“Got to the hospital and they put me in a room and that’s all I remember,” she told NBC News. “When I woke up, I woke up with bandages on my stomach.”
“到了医院，他们把我关在一个房间里，我只记得这些，”她告诉NBC新闻。“当我醒来的时候，我发现肚子上缠着绷带。”
She didn’t discover that she’d been sterilized until a doctor informed her that she’d been “butchered” when Riddick was unable to have children with her husband. The state’s eugenics board ruled that she should be sterilized after she was described in records as “promiscuous” and “feeble-minded.”
她并没有发现自己已经绝育了，直到医生告诉她，由于瑞迪克不能和丈夫生育孩子，她被“动刀”了。在她被记录为“*交滥**”和“低智”之后，该州的优生学委员会裁定她应该绝育。
Puerto Rican Women Robbed of Reproductive Rights
被剥夺生育权利的波多黎各妇女
More than a third of women in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico were sterilized from the 1930s to the 1970s as a result of a partnership between the U.S. government, Puerto Rican lawmakers and medical officials. The United States has ruled the island since 1898. In the decades following, Puerto Rico experienced a number of economic problems, including a high unemployment rate. Government officials decided that the island’s economy would experience a boost if the population were reduced.
在美国政府、波多黎各议员和医疗官员的合作下，从20世纪30年代到70年代，美国领土波多黎各有三分之一以上的妇女绝育。美国自1898年以来一直统治该岛。在随后的几十年里，波多黎各经历了一些经济问题，包括高失业率。政府官员决定，如果人口减少，岛屿的经济将得到提振。
Many of the women targeted for sterilization were reportedly working class, as doctors didn’t think poor women could manage to effectively use contraception. Moreover, many women received sterilizations for free or for very little money as they entered the work force. Before long, Puerto Rico won the dubious distinction of having the world’s highest sterilization rate. So common was the procedure that it was widely known as “La Operacion” among islanders.
据报道，许多绝育的目标妇女是劳工阶级，因为医生认为贫穷的妇女无法有效地使用避孕措施。此外，许多妇女在进入劳动大军后接受了免费或很少钱的绝育手术。不久，波多黎各就赢得了世界上绝育率最高的殊荣。这一程序非常普遍，在被岛民称为“La Operacion”。
Thousands of men in Puerto Rico underwent sterilizations as well. Roughly a third of Puerto Ricans sterilized reportedly did not understand the nature of the procedure, including that it meant they would not be able to bear children in the future.
波多黎各成千上万的男人也接受了绝育手术。据报道，大约三分之一的波多黎各绝育者不了解这一手术的性质，包括这意味着他们今后将无法生育。
Sterilization was not the only way in which Puerto Rican women’s reproductive rights were violated. U.S. pharmaceutical researchers also experimented on Puerto Rican women for human trials of the birth control pill in the 1950s. Many women experienced severe side effects such as nausea and vomiting. Three even died. The participants had not been told that the birth control pill was experimental and that they were participating in a clinical trial, only that they were taking medication to prevent pregnancy. The researchers in that study were later accused of exploiting women of color to acquire FDA approval of their drug.
绝育并不是波多黎各妇女生殖权利受到侵犯的唯一方式。20世纪50年代，美国制药研究人员还在波多黎各妇女身上进行了避孕药的人体试验。许多女性经历了严重的副作用，如恶心和呕吐。三个甚至死亡。参与者没有被告知避孕药是实验性的，也没有被告知他们正在参加临床试验，只是被告知他们正在服用预防怀孕的药物。该研究的研究人员后来被指控利用有色人种女性来获得FDA批准他们的药物。
The Sterilization of Native American Women
对原住民妇女的绝育行动
Native American women also report enduring government-ordered sterilizations. Jane Lawrence details their experiences in her Summer 2000 piece for American Indian Quarterly—“The Indian Health Service and the Sterilization of Native American Women.” Lawrence reports how two teenage girls had their tubes tied without their consent after undergoing appendectomies at an Indian Health Service (IHS) hospital in Montana. Also, a young American Indian woman visited a doctor asking for a “womb transplant,” apparently unaware that no such procedure exists and that the hysterectomy she’d had earlier meant that she and her husband would never have biological children.
美国土著妇女也报告说，她们忍受着政府命令的绝育手术。简·劳伦斯在她2000年夏季为《美国印第安人季刊》撰写的一篇文章中详细描述了他们的经历——《印第安卫生服务和印第安妇女绝育》。劳伦斯报道了两名十几岁的女孩在蒙大拿州的一家印度卫生服务医院接受阑尾切除术后，未经同意就将输卵管系在了身上。此外，一位年轻的美国印第安妇女去看医生，要求进行“子宫移植”，她不知道这种手术是不存在的，而且她经历的子宫切除术意味着她和她的丈夫将永远不会有亲生孩子。
“What happened to these three females was a common occurrence during the 1960s and 1970s,” Lawrence states. “Native Americans accused the Indian Health Service of sterilizing at least 25% of Native American women who were between the ages of 15 and 44 during the 1970s.”
劳伦斯说:“发生在这三种女性身上的事情在20世纪60年代和70年代是很常见的。”“印第安人指责医疗服务机构在20世纪70年代对15到44岁的印第安妇女进行了至少25%的绝育手术。”
Lawrence reports that Native American women say INS officials did not give them complete information about sterilization procedures, coerced them to sign paperwork consenting to such procedures and gave them improper consent forms, to name a few. Lawrence says Native American women were targeted for sterilization because they had higher birthrates than white women and that white male doctors used minority women to gain expertise in performing gynecological procedures, among other dubious reasons
劳伦斯报告说，一些美国土著妇女说，移民局官员没有给她们关于绝育手术的完整信息，强迫她们签署同意这类手术的文件，并给了她们不恰当的同意书。劳伦斯说，美国土著妇女之所以成为绝育手术的目标，是因为她们的出生率比白人妇女高，而且白人男性医生利用少数族裔妇女来获得妇科手术的专业知识，还有其他一些可疑的原因。
Cecil Adams of the Straight Dope website has questioned whether as many Native American women were sterilized against their will as Lawrence cited in her piece. However, he does not deny that women of color were indeed targets of sterilization. Those women who were sterilized reportedly suffered greatly. Many marriages ended in divorce and the development of mental health problems ensued.
“直接情报”网站的塞西尔·亚当斯质疑是否像劳伦斯在她的文章中提到的那样，有那么多的美国土著妇女在违背自己意愿的情况下被绝育。然而，他并不否认有色人种妇女确实是绝育的目标。据报道，那些绝育的妇女遭受了极大的痛苦。许多婚姻以离婚告终，随之而来的是心理健康问题的发展。
