sterilization

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Court Rules on Law Requiring Sterilization for Gender Change

Japanese measure makes surgery a prerequisite

(Newser) - Japan's Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that a law requiring transgender people to undergo sterilization surgery in order to officially change their gender is unconstitutional. The decision by the top court's 15-judge Grand Bench was its first on the constitutionality of Japan's 2003 law requiring the removal...

16K Were Forcibly Sterilized Under Japanese Law

The youngest victims were 9 years old, government report says

(Newser) - Japan's parliament has released a disturbing report on the forced sterilization program that took place under a eugenics law that lasted until 1996. The 1,400-page report, which followed a three-year investigation, found that children as young as nine years old were sterilized to stop them ever having "...

Escobar Had 4 Hippos. Dozens Now Threaten Colombia

Wildlife officials are now sterilizing the invasive species, whose population has exploded

(Newser) - Play a word association game using "Pablo Escobar" to start, and you'll likely hear such terms as "drug lord," "cocaine," and "murderer." "Hippos" may also come up if you're playing with anyone from Colombia, where the animals have surged in...

As Venezuela Reels, Women Turn to Sterilization

With condoms and other methods in short supply, women have few choices

(Newser) - Add another problem to the catastrophe gripping Venezuela: women opting to sterilize themselves rather than bring a new life into the chaos. No government statistics on sterilization are available, but a social worker tells Reuters she sees up to five women a day who seek to undergo a tubal ligation....

Brazil's New Weapon Vs. Zika: Gamma Rays

Officials hope by sterilizing male mosquitoes they can curb spread of virus

(Newser) - With the 2016 Olympics in Rio right around the corner, Brazil is bringing in the big guns to fight Zika—specifically, a gamma ray device to sterilize the mosquitoes that carry the virus, Reuters reports. A nonprofit group will breed up to 12 million of the male insects a week...

Judge: Catholic Hospital Doesn't Have to Perform Tubal Ligation

He rules it's not sex discrimination

(Newser) - A San Francisco judge has denied a woman's request that he require a Catholic hospital to perform a tubal ligation to prevent pregnancy. Superior Court Judge Ernest Goldsmith on Thursday upheld his previous tentative ruling that Mercy Medical Center in Redding, California, was not engaging in sex discrimination by...

No. 1 Birth Control? Female Sterilization

Reproductive health expert says not to demonize it

(Newser) - The practice of sterilization as a family-planning method is facing scrutiny after 13 women died following such procedures in India. But female sterilization is actually the most common form of birth control, with some 223 million women undergoing the procedure in 2009, NPR reports. A reproductive health expert tells NPR...

Medicine Looks to Be Culprit in Deadly Sterilizations

Officials confiscating pills that were given to women

(Newser) - Authorities in India initially thought the women who died after surgeries at a recent "sterilization camp" may have succumbed to septic shock; stories poured out about unsanitary conditions and rushed operations . But now, after post-mortem examinations on several of the women, health officials say it looks like tainted medications...

Deadly Sterilizations: Doctor Paid $1.22 per Patient

Stories of rushed surgeries, unsanitary conditions come out

(Newser) - One of the women who died in the botched India sterilization drive was told she'd receive the equivalent of 10 days' wages and be ready to return to work in the fields in 48 hours, reports the Guardian . A man received the astronomical amount of $3,250 from the...

Botched Mass Sterilization in India Kills 10 Women

83 undergo procedure in 6 hours: reports

(Newser) - In a mass sterilization of 83 women in India on Saturday, a surgeon used infected instruments; now, 10 patients are dead and 69 others have been hospitalized, a local health official tells Bloomberg . "It's a case of negligence," says the chief minister of Chhattisgarh state, where surgeons...

Out: Pol Who Said Women on Welfare Should Be Sterilized

Former Ariz. Sen. Russell Pearce resigns after controversial radio statements

(Newser) - The man described as "the John Wayne of the airwaves" on radio station KKNT will have a more limited platform for his tough talk about women on public assistance and their right to give birth. Russell Pearce, a former Arizona senator who has been outspoken on the subject of...

California Sterilized Inmates Without Lawful Consent

Audit finds evidence of many illegal procedures

(Newser) - The California prison system illegally had dozens of women sterilized, possibly without their consent, according to a new report from the state auditor. Of the 144 inmates given tubal ligations from fiscal years 2005-06 to 2012-13, at least 39 were done without lawful consent, with physicians either failing to sign...

N. Carolina Will Pay $10M to Forced Sterilization Victims

First state to compensate eugenics victims

(Newser) - Over a period of 45 years, North Carolina forcibly sterilized 7,600 people it deemed mentally or socially unfit. Now, 39 years since the state's eugenics program ended in 1974, it will finally make reparations, with lawmakers earmarking $10 million to compensate victims, reports the Wall Street Journal . "...

Calif. Prisons Sterilized Women Without State OK

148 had procedure between 2006 and 2010: report

(Newser) - The California prison system had at least 148 women sterilized between 2006 and 2010—without the state signing off on the move. Another 100 women may have faced the same fate since the 1990s, the Center for Investigative Reporting finds, based on state records and interviews. The inmates were pregnant...

Reproductive Care Risk: Catholic Hospitals Growing

Some officials, doctors concerned about women's access to care

(Newser) - As the Catholic Church and the Obama administration continue to grapple over birth control, a larger issue looms: Women may find themselves with less access to birth control, abortion, sterilization, and other procedures as Catholic medical centers increasingly merge with secular hospitals. About 20 mergers between larger, more financially secure...

US Charity Pays UK Addict to Get Vasectomy

Start of 'cash for vasectomy' program in Britain

(Newser) - Here's an odd bit of international relations: An American charity has paid a British heroin addict to undergo a vasectomy. The group, called Project Prevention , paid the man about $315 dollars in the hope of preventing him from passing his addiction on to the next generation. The man, John, said...

China Forces Sterilization on 10K People

(Newser) - As part of a plan to control population explosion, China's health authorities plan to sterilize 10,000 people in southern China over the next four days. The campaign in Puning City calls for people who already have at least one child to be sterilized; many who decline the surgery are...

Healthy Baby Born 22 Years After Dad's Sperm Frozen

Former teen leukemia patient sets record

(Newser) - A North Carolina man had his sperm frozen when he was 16, before leukemia treatment rendered him sterile. A record 22 years later, Chris Biblis and his wife conceived a daughter—and now she’s been born healthy, the Times of London reports. “From my life being saved to...

UK Performs First 15-Minute Female 'Vasectomy'

Procedure uses radio waves instead of knife

(Newser) - A revolutionary new 15-minute female sterilization procedure has been performed for the first time in the UK, reports the Daily Mail. The procedure uses radio waves instead of incisions and in US trials most patients were able to go home within 30 minutes of receiving local anesthesia. The more invasive...

Archbishop Blasts Plan to Sterilize Poor

Lawmaker's proposal 'an egregious affront, blatantly antilife'

(Newser) - The Archbishop of New Orleans slammed a Louisiana lawmaker yesterday for a plan to sterilize the poor, the Times-Picayune reports. Archbishop Alfred Hughes called it "an egregious affront to those targeted and blatantly anti-life." State Rep. John Labruzzo floated the idea this week to fight poverty by paying...

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