How doctors are pressuring sickle cell patients into unwanted sterilizations Eric Boodman By Eric Boodman

https://www.statnews.com/2024/05/21/sickle-cell-patients-steered-toward-sterilization-for-decades/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_rWIuH9L2YuJ21027BM-vFi6kofvzE-No26c5cI-ldT3kCIRrljzmrYLAfnfzB7u50x5yX_FaZjkl1BS80w3DoOt0uNg&_hsmi=307943857&utm_content=307943857&utm_source=hs_email The term “coercive sterilization” brings to mind some of the vilest moments of America’s history — but it doesn’t strictly belong to the past. A STAT investigation found that women with sickle cell disease, a condition most common among people of African descent, have felt pushed towards tubal ligations and hysterectomies even when they aren’t sure about ending their reproductive life (tubal ligation can be reversed, though it’s costly and isn’t guaranteed to work). In the first installment of his series Coercive Care, STAT's Eric Boodman looks at how interventions billed as lifesaving — pregnancy for sickle cell patients is higher risk, and the disease is hereditary — carry echoes of eugenics. Though patients do give consent, it isn't always fully informed. “I just felt like, I guess this is for the best. But it wasn’t the best for me. I guess it was the best for them, because they didn’t have to deal with another sickle cell patient coming into their office saying they’re pregnant,” one of the patients told Eric