Whistleblower nurse, Dawn Wooten, spoke out about detained women given forced hysterectomies while detained in the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia. A hysterectomy is a surgical procedure done to remove the uterus, also known as a womb, which is an organ that is needed to bear children.
According to Wooten, when these women were not certain as to why they needed the procedure. Dubbed by the detainees as “uterus collector,” Dr. Mahendra Amin is the OB-GYN who has been accused of performing these hysterectomies. Four lawyers, who were involved with women in these facilities for several years, state that Dr. Amin was abusive and told the detainees that they had cervical cancer, but did not receive biopsies to confirm this diagnosis.
In response to Wooten, ICE delivered a statement saying, “ICE takes all allegations seriously and defers to the OIG regarding any potential investigation and/or results. That said, in general, anonymous, unproven allegations, made without any fact-checkable specifics, should be treated with the appropriate skepticism they deserve.” Although ICE offers their skepticism, this is not something the world has not seen before.
From 1846 to around 1849, J. Marion Sims, dubbed the “Father of Modern Gynecology,” experimented on enslaved black women from Alabama, without anesthesia. Within the 1960s and 1970s, several Native women were subject to sterilization without their knowledge or consent.
In 1932, Macon County, Alabama, 600 impoverished black men took medical tests. Their healthcare practitioners omitted the diagnosis of syphilis to 399 men to analyze the untreated illness in its dormancy.
America’s violation of human rights pursues and now manifests as hysterectomies in an ICE Detention Center. Even if ICE took responsibility and followed the necessary steps to prevent this situation from reoccurring, the hysterectomies performed on these women are irreversible. Their chance at bearing children has been taken from them, along with their human rights.
Unusually, several of these women received the same procedure, which has gone on for several years unquestioned. The emphasis of gynecologist appointments in the facility is a red flag. The “crime” of these detainees is not a reason to violate their human rights. Crossing a border is not a reason to have a uterus removed as punishment.
When does empathy begin so that we do not have to keep repeating history? Is this part of the agenda of making America great again? As we have lived to witness, America has an obsession with taking matters into their own hands where they do not belong.
We have ICE severing immigrant women from their ability to have children, and detainees were not tested or protected from COVID-19. We have law enforcement that plays the role of judge, jury, and executioner, taking the lives of black men, women, and children without hesitation. Native burial sites were demolished to expand the development of the infamous southern border wall. This list continues and, unfortunately, will continue to lengthen for years to come.
Discussing this issue is not about questioning your political party, but to make you aware that forcing hysterectomies on women detained for attempting to immigrate past a border is cruel and unusual punishment, a violation of our eighth amendment. If we, as a country, are obsessed with “staying true to the law,” then I would anticipate that this energy and diligence will exist from the side of authority.
This year, we’ve only been reminded again and again of America’s blatant disregard for human lives and abuse of power. As a reminder, we, the Editorial Board at The Xavierite, implore you to vote in November.