Editing Sterilization (medicine) (section)

===Compulsory===

[[Compulsory sterilization]], including forcible and involuntary sterilization, refers to governmental policies put in place as part of [[human population planning]] or as a form of [[eugenics]] (changing hereditary qualities of a race or breed by controlling mating) to prevent certain groups of people from reproducing. In certain countries, some women were sterilized without their consent, later resulting in lawsuits against the doctors who performed those surgeries.  There are also many examples of women being asked for their consent to the procedure during times of high stress and physical pain.  Some examples include women who have just given birth and are still being affected by the drugs, women in the middle of labor, or people who do not understand English.<ref>Kluchin, Rebecca M. "Locating the Voices of the Sterilized." ''The Public Historian''. 29.3 (2007): 131–44.</ref>  Many of the women affected by this were poor, [[minority group|minority]] women.<ref name="Race, Class, and Gender in Punitive Welfare Reform">Pierson-Balik, Denise A. 2003. "Race, Class, and Gender in Punitive Welfare Reform: Social Eugenics and Welfare Policy". ''Race, Gender, & Class''. 10 (1): 11–30.</ref>

In May 2014, the [[World Health Organization]], [[OHCHR]], [[UN Women]], [[UNAIDS]], [[UNDP]], [[UNFPA]], and [[UNICEF]] issued a joint statement on '''Eliminating forced, coercive and otherwise involuntary sterilization, An interagency statement'''. The report references the involuntary sterilization of several specific population groups. They include:

* [[Women]], especially in relation to coercive population control policies, particularly including women living with [[HIV]], [[Indigenous peoples|Indigenous]] and ethnic minority girls and women. Indigenous and ethnic minority women often face "wrongful stereotyping based on gender, race and ethnicity".
* [[People with disabilities]], often perceived as sexually inactive. Women with [[Intellectual disability|intellectual disabilities]] are "often treated as if they have no control, or should have no control, over their sexual and reproductive choices". Other rationales include menstrual management for the benefit of careers.
* [[Intersex]] persons, who "are often subjected to cosmetic and other non-medically indicated surgeries performed on their reproductive organs, without their informed consent or that of their parents, and without taking into consideration the views of the children involved", often as a "sex-normalizing" treatment.
* [[Transgender]] persons, "as a prerequisite to receiving gender-affirmative treatment and gender-marker changes".

The report recommends a range of guiding principles for medical treatment, including ensuring patient autonomy in decision-making, ensuring non-discrimination, accountability, and access to remedies.<ref>[https://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/gender_rights/eliminating-forced-sterilization/en/ Eliminating forced, coercive and otherwise involuntary sterilization, An interagency statement], [[World Health Organization]], May 2014.</ref>