Study on forced sterilization practices in New Mexico moves forward with group of experts

A working group of over 30 experts have convened to inform a comprehensive study on the impact of forced sterilization practices on Indigenous women and women of color in the state, as directed by the passage of Senate Memorial 14 earlier this year.

The memorial directs the state’s Indian Affairs Department and the New Mexico Commission on the Status of Women to lead the study, which is intended to identify all cases or suspected cases of forced sterilization in New Mexico; gather survivor testimony; assess how accessible reproductive health services are to New Mexico Indigenous women and women of color; and recommend policy, educational and reparative initiatives by the end of 2027. 

The memorial notes that investigations in the 1970s revealed between 25% and 50% of Indigenous women of childbearing age had been sterilized, and says some of the “highest concentrations of procedures” occurred in Albuquerque and the southwest.

NM memorial calling for study of forced sterilization against women of color advances

In a presentation given to members of the Indian Affairs Committee Tuesday at the Pueblo of Acoma, Indian Affairs Department Secretary Josett Monette said the department and the commission have established a draft work plan and gathered 34 experts with backgrounds ranging in survivor advocacy, reproductive health, state and Tribal knowledge, historical research and trauma-informed practices. The group is expected to reconvene in early October.

Rep. Michelle Paulene Abeyta (D-To’hajiilee) said she would like to partner with the group and hopes that the research that comes from the study will be included in future school curriculum.

“I, for one, did not learn that until I was in a Native American studies higher education program, unfortunately,” she said during the meeting. “Those are not the stories that families openly share or talk about because of the humiliation and the shame that’s associated with it.”

Sen. Linda Lopez (D-Albuquerque), a sponsor of SM14, added that eugenics practices are not just a part of history, but still occur today and impact many different women of color. “It’s not something in the past. It’s current and very real,” she said. 

Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero (D-Albuquerque) shared her own experience of nearly being sterilized against her wishes when she was 25 when the companion memorial was discussed in committee earlier this year. She said Tuesday that testifying in support of the memorial “resurrected a pain” she didn’t know she still carried and that she is “angry” that such medical operations are still impacting the generations of women who have come after her.

“The core in this case is we need to stop the practice of sterilization,” Roybal Caballero said. “They’re horrific stories and still it’s predominantly women of color. Predominantly poor, vulnerable women of color…who come into our systems ill prepared to ask necessarily the questions they need to be asking.”