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Irwin County
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2020-09-21Protests against ICE, Forced Sterilization and Under Reporting of Covid-19 Cases in Detention Centers
Last Monday, Dawn Wooten, a nurse at an ICE detention center in Irwin County, Georgia, revealed doctors were performing unnecessary gynecological procedures, including hysterectomies, on immigrant women being held. She also revealed the facility was underreporting the number of positive of COVID-19 cases by failing to test detainees and neglecting their medical needs. These cases of forced sterilizations are far too common in American history. After sterilization became legal and provided to Puerto Rican women for free, approximately one-third of the female population was sterilized between the 1930s and the 1970s, making it the highest rate of sterilization in the world. Health workers encouraged the procedure through door-to-door visits and employers showed favoritism towards sterilized women. I highly recommend a short documentary called La Operación available online about this US-imposed sterilization policy in Puerto Rico.