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State Investigates Sterilization of Native Americans in '70s

In New Mexico and elsewhere, women were given procedures without their consent
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 22, 2026 8:01 AM CST
NM Investigates Sterilization of Native Americans in '70s
Jean Whitehorse testifies about the forced sterilization of Native American women at a UN forum in 2019. Whitehouse says she received a tubal ligation without her knowledge when she went to a hospital in New Mexico at age 22.   (Keely Badger via AP)

In the 1970s, the US agency that provides health care to Native Americans sterilized thousands of women without their full and informed consent, depriving them of the opportunity to start or grow families. Decades later, the state of New Mexico is set to investigate that troubling history and its lasting harm, per the AP. New Mexico legislators approved a measure this week to have the state Indian Affairs Department and the Commission on the Status of Women examine the history, scope, and continuing impact of forced and coerced sterilizations of women of color by the Indian Health Service and other providers. The findings are expected to be reported to the governor by the end of 2027.

The New Mexico Legislature also laid the groundwork to create a separate commission to help survivors and for a formal acknowledgment of a little-known piece of history that haunts Native families. Outside of a 1976 US Government Accountability Office report, the federal government has never acknowledged what University of Kansas School of Law professor Sarah Deer calls a campaign of "systemic" sterilizations in Native American communities. The Indian Health Service and its parent agency, the US Department of Health and Human Services, did not respond to requests for comment. The full AP story has more details on the sterilization program, including the account of Jean Whitehorse, who went to a New Mexico hospital in 1972 and received a tubal ligation without her knowledge.

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