A History of Governmentally Coerced Sterilization: The Plight of the Native American Woman

This article chronicles the specific human rights violation of coerced sterilization and its impact upon the First Nations. The author presents the history of coerced sterilization in North America, and connects this policy to arguments of genocide being perpetrated against Indigenous Peoples. The first part of this article focuses on the history of enforced sterilization against First Nations peoples, while the latter part of the article raises international law defences to halt this practice. The author argues that rather than representing a past problem, coerced sterilizations have in fact increased in recent years, despite international developments aimed at protecting Indigenous peoples' rights. [Descriptors: Indigenous Women, Reproductive Rights - Reproductive Freedom, International]