And yes, that means more than abortion.
Over at FWD, s.e. smith linked this advice column in which a woman’s friend advises her to get her son with disabilities “fixed”. Eww, I hated typing that. Sadly, for people with disabilities, these kinds of attitudes are not isolated, but extremely prevalent. Same with racialized people, working-class people, and other marginalized groups. This, kids, is what we call eugenics.
Forced sterilization is decidedly not okay. Violating people’s bodily autonomy is not okay. And suggesting someone should get “fixed”, like a dog, is really not okay.
This is why, while I do identify as pro-choice, I prefer the concept of reproductive justice. Reproductive justice expands beyond the right to abortion, to supporting all kinds of reproductive choices, from parenting, abortion, contraception, to simply having a right not to be forcibly sterilized.
This is why I sometimes get offended by what certain pro-choicers say, even though I identify strongly as pro-choice. When you suggest certain groups of people, as a whole, make incompetent parents, you are devaluing someone’s reproductive choice. When your main argument for abortion rights is “fewer deformed babies”, you are being ableist. While some people with disabilities choose not to have children, you have no right to take someone’s bodily autonomy away. If they want to have children, that is their choice. And the operative word here is choice.
Island of a Mind 
Shortly after I was diagnosed with Bipolar I opted to have myself “fixed.” I did not want to run the risk of getting pregnant while on so many meds and I was having a hard enough time taking care of myself. The thought of having to take care of a child just scared the daylights out of me. I have never regretted my decision, but I know it’s not right for everyone and I would certainly never advocate for all people with mental illness to get sterilized. Like the choice to have an abortion, the choice to have a child is very personal and is the right of every human on this planet.
For sure! The right to be sterilized is as important as the right not to be sterilized – and I’ll have a post coming on that one of these days, as well. 🙂