AB 3052 Assembly Public Safety Committee Hearing Testimony
May 19, 2020
Good morning. My name is Carly Myers and I am a Staff Attorney with the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, a national disability law and policy center that protects and advances the civil and human rights of people with disabilities. As an organization committed to promoting equality in all aspects of life, we strongly support AB 3052 and believe it will play a vital role in advancing disability, racial, and reproductive justice.
Between 1909 and 1979, the State of California forcibly sterilized at least 20,000 people with disabilities. Based on misguided assumptions and biases about disability, individuals were labelled “unfit to reproduce” and they were summarily sterilized. Disabled people of color and disabled women were the groups primarily targeted by these heinous laws.
California’s sterilization abuses have impacted countless lives. The families of two young women who were forcibly sterilized in state institutions wanted me to share their loved one’s experiences with you today:
Mary Franco was a 14-year-old girl who lived in Southern California. Mary came from a Mexican-American family, and was admitted to the Pacific Colony institution in 1934. Mary’s doctors diagnosed her with “feeble-mindedness” and “social deviance,” and sterilized her without her consent. Mary’s sterilization affected her entire life. Her personal relationships were harmed, her husband left her when he found out that she couldn’t have children, and she faced lasting health complications from her surgery. Future doctors stated she that she had been “butchered” by the procedure. Mary passed away in 1998, but her niece continues to share her story, in an effort to bring awareness to the injustices that she endured.
Rosie Zaballos was the youngest girl in a large Spanish immigrant family. Rosie had a developmental disability and, at age 16, she was sterilized at Sonoma State Home. Rosie’s doctors referred to her as an “imbecile” and recommended her for sterilization. Rosie’s surgery did not go as planned. Just a few days before her 17th birthday, Rosie died during her sterilization procedure. In the words of Rosie’s niece: “I wanted there to be a record that this this girl, at 16 years old, died because of a government policy—a policy that told people who didn’t have the education or the financial wherewithal to do anything, that this is what you do when you have somebody with a developmental disability.”
While California’s eugenics laws were formally repealed in 1979, the State continued its sterilization abuses until as recently as 2010. It’s estimated that an additional 250 women were sterilized in State prisons without their consent, and sometimes even without their knowledge.
Today, California has the opportunity to denounce forced sterilizations for what they were: a flagrant human rights abuse. At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is bringing to the forefront deep-seeded racial and disability based health inequities, this bill provides an opportunity for California to acknowledge its egregious reproductive harms. There are only an estimated 455 survivors from eugenics sterilizations that are still alive today. If we don’t act quickly, these individuals—like the 19,500 people before them—will die without any form of justice. Now more than ever, this state needs to commit to addressing its legacy of eugenics and, through reparations, boldly commit to ensuring that it will not happen again.
For these reasons, the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund respectfully asks for your “aye” vote on AB 3052. Thank you.