Between 2006 and 2010, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation ordered doctors to perform tubal ligation surgeries on women who were deemed likely to become repeat offenders while they were pregnant, violating prison rules and a ban in California of forced sterilizations, according to a new report by the Center for Investigative Reporting.

Host Jamila Bey spoke with Dr. Matthew Butkus, a medical ethicist at McNeese State University; Dr. Danielle Lee, an evolutionary biologist and expert in the history of African-American interaction with science and medicine; Allen Hornblum, author of “Acres of Skin: Human Experiments at Holmesburg Prison” and the recently published, “Against Their Will: The Secret History of Medical Experimentation on Children in Cold War America;” and Carmen Russell-Sluchansky, chief legal and political correspondent with the Voice of Russia American Edition; to discuss the history of sterilization in the U.S. and how the Supreme Court has actually historically upheld the concept.

Part 1:

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Part 2 :

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To read the story by the Center for Investigating Reporting, click here.

To listen to our interview with the story’s reporter, click here.