Forced Sterilization

I went to see my therapist yesterday. Just the regular, sort of necessary monthly visit. I think they consider me to be on “maintenance.” My therapist likes dogs so she was asking me to explain to her why the idea of a mandatory spay/neuter in our city/county was a bad idea. (See Why I Hate The Idea of Animal Rights.) I was explaining and she pops up and says that she thinks FORCED STERILIZATION FOR PEOPLE should be required. I just stared at her. What can you say to that? She started saying something about welfare mothers with too many kids, blah blah blah. I finally said I didn't really like anything forced or mandatory.

She is a nice older lady. But how do I get these fruit loops?

Just to be sure I wasn't crazy I came home and checked online. Yeah, forced sterilization is considered a crime against humanity. So, it's not just me that thinks it's a bad idea. The Nazis did it for eugenics reasons. They have done it in India and China as birth control. It just sucks. I can't believe I have a therapist who actually thinks we should do that here.

I would change therapists but with my luck I would get someone even worse.

I was struggling with this information all night. It boggles my mind that there are Americans in favor of forced sterilization. It generally boggles my mind when people want to take rights away from other people, but this is something extremely personal. I don’t know where in the Constitution it says that we have reproductive rights but I’m pretty sure I was born with those rights. No one should be able to take them away from me because I make below a certain income level or my I.Q. is low or for any other reason. And you know it’s always the poorest folks in a country who are singled out for laws like this -- they’re the ones least able to fight back.

I struggled with whether or not I would post this story here because I wasn’t sure I wanted to tell all the world I see a therapist. But I did post it and I do see a therapist. I have what’s called social anxiety disorder. It’s not so bad now because I take medication for it but for a while it was ruining my life. Some people think of it as shyness but that’s not really an accurate description. It can take the form of agoraphobia. I was afraid to leave my house because I didn’t want to see people. I couldn’t answer my phone because I was afraid to talk to them. If I had to call someone I had to write down what I was going to say so I would be prepared. Sometimes it would take me a day or two to work up the nerve to call somebody. If someone came to my door I was terrified. I had panic attacks all the time. Anything could set me off. I was living in a state of fear all the time, afraid of everyone and everything.

Fortunately, after trying to get some help and not getting the right diagnoses, I found a good doctor and got the right medication. I’ve been getting better ever since. I live a fairly normal life now. Most people think I’m very outgoing and they can’t get me to shut up.

I’ve had a couple of great therapists over the years but the last couple I’ve had have been less than stellar. This current therapist is a nice lady but I’m a little worried that we’re not connecting very much. The whole forced sterilization issue kind of brought that out in the open.

If you didn’t know it, the United States has had laws on the books about forced sterilization.

The United States was the first country to concertedly undertake compulsory sterilization programs for the purpose of eugenics. The heads of the program were avid believers in eugenics and frequently argued for their program. They were devastated when it was shut down due to ethical problems. The principal targets of the American program were the mentally retarded and the mentally ill, but also targeted under many state laws were the deaf, the blind, people with epilepsy, and the physically deformed. Native Americans, as well as Afro-American women,[17] were sterilized against their will in many states, often without their knowledge, while they were in a hospital for other reasons (e.g. childbirth). Some sterilizations also took place in prisons and other penal institutions, targeting criminality, but they were in the relative minority. In the end, over 65,000 individuals were sterilized in 33 states under state compulsory sterilization programs in the United States.[18]

(Wikipedia)

It’s been tried here before on the state level so you shouldn’t imagine that it’s something that could never happen here. We were right up there with our Nazi friends, leading the way toward a more eugenically-perfect world before WWII. Americans seem to have lost interest in the idea after seeing Hitler’s efforts, thank goodness. But it could happen here again.