Why are Disabled Women and Girls Still Being Sterilised?
Despite strong condemnation of compulsory or forced sterilisation from many sources including women’s organisations, disability rights organisations and human rights bodies such as the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)[1], women with disabilities still face a serious threat of forced sterilisation (Raye, 1999). On a global level women and girls with disabilities are subject to medical procedures which result in sterilisation which are preformed without their consent (Reilly, 1991; Furminger-Delisle, 1996; Brady and Grover 1997; Tsuchiya, 1997; Zavirsek, 1997; Kaban, 1998; Diederich & Moyse, 2001; Ziegler, 2003). The reasons used to justify forced sterilisations generally fall into three broad categories: 1. Genetic/Eugenic – based on the fear that disabled women will re/produce children with genetic defects. This view continues in spite of evidence suggesting that the causes of impairment are overwhelmingly social and environmental (including war, pov
