This Woman Says a Hospital in Canada Pushed Her to Undergo Sterilization | VICE News

20.11.15

This Woman Says a Hospital in Canada Pushed Her to Undergo Sterilization | VICE News: Both stories, one author says, must be seen in the context of a long history of forced sterilization of indigenous women in Canada.

For Pelletier, the pressure was enough to get her to sign the consent form — a decision the 39-year-old regrets years later as she grapples with its physical and emotional consequences.

She had just given birth to her seventh child in 2010 at Royal University Hospital when a social worker, nurses, and a doctor pressured her into signing a consent form for the procedure, she said. It appeared they didn't want to discharge her until her tubes were tied.

"Constantly, like every couple hours. I don't know if it was two hours or three hours but it was non-stop, all day, all night," Pelletier told CBC. "Like right up until you better sign that, the operating room's ready."