Last week, horrifying allegations began appearing on the internet and social media, allegations that a doctor at an ICE detention facility in Georgia was performing unnecessary hysterectomies on unsuspecting women in detention. By the next day, these allegations were confirmed. The whistleblower — a nurse at the facility — had a name and a face, and she was appearing on media to tell the story of what she witnessed. Fallopian tubes removed. Full hysterectomies. Ovaries removed.
Dawn Wooten, a licensed practical nurse employed by the center, who’s represented by the Government Accountability Project and Project South, stated in a complaint that while some women may have required a hysterectomy, “everybody’s uterus cannot be that bad.”
Soon, more whistleblowers came out to support Wooten‘s statements.
These whistleblowers all accuse ICE of performing unnecessary hysterectomies on women in immigration detention as well as “jarring medical neglect.” Spanish-speaking women, who had no access to translators, had their uteruses partially or fully removed without informed consent. Nurses reported that women held by ICE did not know why procedures were being performed on them.
While the American people should welcome investigations, ICE officials and doctors must immediately halt the abuse of people in their care. The human beings whose lives and bodies are forever altered can’t wait while the issue works its way through the system. Congress must act to stop these abuses now, which recall a horrific history of forced sterilizations of women of color and people who are incarcerated.
Americans demand the immediate cessation of the abuse of women in ICE immigration detention centers, including the immediate end to forced sterilizations.
Please sign the petition to Congress HERE.
Progressive Caucus Action Fund
Daily Kos
Demand Progress
Demcast USA
Fight for the Future
PeopleGreater
Progressive Reform Network
The Juggernaut Project
