# America is Sterilizing ICE Detainees!? What-The-Actual-Fuck...? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 15, 2020, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-is-sterilizing-ice-detainees-what-the-actual-fuck/920660 "2020-09-15T09:46:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-is-sterilizing-ice-detainees-what-the-actual-fuck/920660/61 "2020-09-15T20:35:03Z")
I took back the sterilize comment. They all get to live happy racist lives, just no breeding of more racist genocidal maniacs. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-is-sterilizing-ice-detainees-what-the-actual-fuck/920660/62 "2020-09-15T20:39:13Z")
Gotta admit, I give up when somebody defends eugenics. There’s no reasoning with that sort of lunacy. ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-is-sterilizing-ice-detainees-what-the-actual-fuck/920660/63 "2020-09-15T20:49:03Z")
Oh but we have to treat them with respect and kid gloves. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-is-sterilizing-ice-detainees-what-the-actual-fuck/920660/64 "2020-09-15T20:51:57Z")
Forget respect and kid gloves. Other posters are just saying our actions should be sane and legal ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-is-sterilizing-ice-detainees-what-the-actual-fuck/920660/65 "2020-09-15T20:52:18Z")
I kept typing CDC instead of ICE, and corrected it elsewhere. I don’t know why I have those connected at all in my head. Anyway, ICE. I actually think this isn’t the worst thing they’ve done, as awful as it is. We took children from their mothers _and then lost track of the kids_. I cannot even imagine what those parents are going through. The United States, me, you, all of us, stole children and then lost them. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-is-sterilizing-ice-detainees-what-the-actual-fuck/920660/66 "2020-09-15T20:55:31Z")
Yeah, I like that notion. Anything short of eugenics is “kid gloves”. Like I said earlier - no reasoning with that sort of lunacy. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-is-sterilizing-ice-detainees-what-the-actual-fuck/920660/67 "2020-09-15T21:00:49Z")
As I said earlier, 32 states had eugenics laws on the books until the 70s, and even after that some prisons were still practising it, just very, very quietly. **We have done this before** , and now we’re doing it again. It’s abhorrent, but it is part of our history, just like slavery and Jim Crow was, and for many of the same reasons. One of the many horrors of $45 is that he’s made eugenics acceptable again, so our representatives in the form of this ICE detention center’s personnel feel free to practice it again. ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-is-sterilizing-ice-detainees-what-the-actual-fuck/920660/68 "2020-09-15T21:08:15Z")
I’ve got to vent somewhere. There’s too much going on I can’t take anymore. I’m so upset about this I actually threw up. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-is-sterilizing-ice-detainees-what-the-actual-fuck/920660/69 "2020-09-15T21:15:44Z")
If you’re really having problems coping, seek professional help. I mean that seriously and plainly. I require a therapist and a some serious medication to deal with everything. If you’re seriously proposing killing, or sterilizing other human beings just for being related to criminals, you need help. Oh, and **RitterSport** mit cornflakes is my favorite so far. It even tops mit biscuit. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-is-sterilizing-ice-detainees-what-the-actual-fuck/920660/70 "2020-09-15T21:48:57Z")
Vollnuss oder mit Marzipan für mich. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-is-sterilizing-ice-detainees-what-the-actual-fuck/920660/71 "2020-09-15T22:02:08Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Yeah, I like that notion. Anything short of eugenics is “kid gloves”. Like I said earlier - no reasoning with that sort of lunacy. I’ll take “excluded middle fallacies for $100 Alex” ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-is-sterilizing-ice-detainees-what-the-actual-fuck/920660/72 "2020-09-15T22:09:43Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > You can remove just the uterus, not the ovaries, then no menopause. > But wouldn’t tubal ligation be simpler? Sterilisation is the only reason for doing a tubal ligation. Hysterectomy can be claimed to be necessary for legitimate medical problems, which is what it sounds like was happening. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2020, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-is-sterilizing-ice-detainees-what-the-actual-fuck/920660/73 "2020-09-16T01:29:59Z")
What a coincidence that so many immigrant women just happened to need full hysterectomies. What a fucking load of bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2020, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-is-sterilizing-ice-detainees-what-the-actual-fuck/920660/74 "2020-09-16T01:56:26Z")
Norplant (or whatever it’s called now) installation is actually a minor surgical procedure. It’s not without side effects, nor are IUDs. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2020, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-is-sterilizing-ice-detainees-what-the-actual-fuck/920660/75 "2020-09-16T04:54:36Z")
The doctor who is alleged to have done this (remember, he hasn’t been convicted yet) has been identified. > **[Gynecologist Allegedly Sterilizing Women Detained in Georgia ICE Facility Has...](https://jezebel.com/gynecologist-allegedly-sterilizing-women-detained-in-ge-1845071733?rev=1600224674415&utm_campaign=Jezebel&utm_content=1600225036&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR1NAo18VkG55nnNkfq1V1rjoHDNmn4fSH3Cj28Vbxpzxq7yba-cv5FcgYM)** > > On Monday, news broke that a whistleblower was claiming that a doctor at an ICE detention facility was giving a high number of hysterectomies to detained women, often without informed consent from the patients. Today, Prism reported that they have... ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2020, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-is-sterilizing-ice-detainees-what-the-actual-fuck/920660/76 "2020-09-16T10:22:35Z")
I don’t get why people brought up Norplant - we’re talking about hysterectomies, not inserting an implant under someone’s skin. You’re implying women can’t tell the difference between their belly and their upper arm. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2020, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-is-sterilizing-ice-detainees-what-the-actual-fuck/920660/77 "2020-09-16T10:58:48Z")
I brought it up way back in the days before it was verified and the doctor outed. My point was, if they were looking to sterilize the detainees while in custody, Norplant would be cheaper and easier than a hysterectomy, and less cartoonishly evil. I’m withdrawing that idea since this was apparently actually happening, although it’s not America so much as this one doctor, who didn’t get proper oversight by us. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2020, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-is-sterilizing-ice-detainees-what-the-actual-fuck/920660/78 "2020-09-16T12:21:59Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > I’m withdrawing that idea since this was apparently actually happening, although it’s not America so much as this one doctor, who didn’t get proper oversight by us. No, I’m sorry - “it’s just one doctor America gets a pass” doesn’t wash. It was the policy of wholesale incarceration of people without trial or representation that led to these women being in a position to be victimized. That’s on the US government as a whole because it was this administration’s policies that led to this situation. And, as you point out, there was not sufficient oversight to these ~~detention centers~~ concentration camps, which is also on the heads of this administration. > [@RitterSport](#): > > My point was, if they were looking to sterilize the detainees while in custody, Norplant would be cheaper and easier than a hysterectomy, and less cartoonishly evil. I suspect the point was not to “sterialize the detainees while in custody” so much as to simply _sterilize these women forever._ Genocidal action against undesirables. It _might_ have started with one or two women who genuinely needed a hysterectomy - there are enough women in unlawful custody that that is a real possibility - but then someone thought doing more and more was a good idea. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2020, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-is-sterilizing-ice-detainees-what-the-actual-fuck/920660/79 "2020-09-16T14:08:49Z")
The idea that ICE is/was conspiring to sterilize a bunch of detainees through hysterectomy is, in my view, utter nonsense. If sterilization was the goal, the Right-Wing Henchmen would’ve chosen tubal ligation as their method. Lots cheaper and more efficient. The idea that a run-amok OB-GYN was out to sterilize a bunch of detainees through hysterectomy is only slightly less nonsensical. Is it conceivable that an OB-GYN could be too quick on the trigger to perform major surgery when the standard of care calls for less invasive/non-invasive therapy? Yes, that has happened in other settings. It would not be surprising that many detainees are not getting the standard of care, something worth raising a stink about. Jumping to embrace QAnon-style conspiracy theories however is dumb. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2020, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-is-sterilizing-ice-detainees-what-the-actual-fuck/920660/80 "2020-09-16T14:17:21Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > > > When they find out he’s been lying to them, he’ll lose that base. > > No. He won’t. Those are not the values for which his evangelical base supports him. What do you feel are the values that motivate evangelicals? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-is-sterilizing-ice-detainees-what-the-actual-fuck/920660.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-is-sterilizing-ice-detainees-what-the-actual-fuck/920660.md?page=5)