Forced sterilisation of women with disabilities still haunts Europe
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Forced sterilisation of women with disabilities may sound like a practice prevalent in lawless corners of the world but in reality, the practice is legal even today in many European countries. The European Parliament is currently debating a resolution making the practice illegal in the European Union. If the resolution passes, it will be binding on all member countries.
Currently, there is no common law addressing the issue of forced sterilisation of women with disabilities, said Euronews. This has meant that the onus of addressing the issue is on individual countries. And many of them do not have a law in place to make the practice illegal.
Even in Spain, such forced sterilisation was legal till only two years ago.
Euronews reported the case of Rosario, a Spanish woman who was forcibly sterilised by her parents. Rosario has 67 per cent intellectual disability. This means that she is able to be independent and work. Rosario met Antonio, who has a similar intellectual disability. Both fell in love.
When Rosario expressed to her parents that she wished to be a mother, she was met with stiff resistance. Her parents were reportedly not convinced that Rosario was capable of raising a child. Her parents decided to sterilise her after advice from a doctor. As they forced Rosario to undergo the procedure, her mother warned her that if she did not undergo the procedure, she will not be allowed to meet Antonio.
Rosario saw scars on her body a day after the procedure.
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"I asked myself: 'What have they done with my life? Am I useless? Can everyone be a mother except me? Since then, I feel empty every day of my life," she told Euronews.
She said what 'little affection' she had for her parents died with the incident.
"I don't have a conversation like father and daughter. I don't trust anyone anymore, nor do I want to," she was quoted as saying.
The European situation
The practice remains legal in many countries of the European Union. Portugal, Hungary and the Czech Republic are the three countries that allow the sterilisation of even minors. The situation persists in spite of the practice violating the Istanbul Convention and the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Only Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Ireland, Slovenia, Poland and Spain criminalise the practice. Spain is the latest country to do so.
But Euronews reported that forced sterilisation takes place in these countries even when the practice is outlawed.
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