COERCIVE CARE
a stat investigation
For decades, physicians have steered sickle cell patients toward sterilization
How doctors push patients with sickle cell disease into unwanted sterilizations
Coming soon Risk of pregnancy complications can’t explain higher tubal ligation rate among sickle cell patients
Coming soon The doctor would treat her sickle cell pain crisis — if she promised not to get
an abortion
PART 1
read the story
“I can’t really say I consciously, 100% knew what I was giving consent to.”
“They didn’t believe that I was ever able to carry a child. But whose decision is that to make?”
get the series sent to your inbox
share your experience with stat
With a STAT+ subscription, you can get email alerts for reporter Eric Boodman so his stories will hit your inbox right as they’re published.
Have you or someone you know — with or without sickle cell disease — felt pressured into having a sterilization procedure?
Reporting Eric Boodman
Graphics Emory Parker
Editing Gideon Gil
Art and photo direction Alissa Ambrose
Photo editing Crystal Milner
Additional editing Rick Berke
Copy editing Sarah Mupo and Karen Pennar
Design and Development Jennifer Keefe, Julia Bujalski, Ben Lokshin
This series began with reporter Eric Boodman reading a research paper about the increased risk of pregnancy complications associated with sickle cell disease. As he started doing interviews with physicians and patients, they kept telling him about people who’d been discouraged from having kids — and in some cases, felt pressured toward sterilizations they weren't sure they wanted.
At first, he heard such stories only indirectly. But over the course of interviewing more than 50 people with sickle cell, he met some who'd had that experience firsthand, and he spent a year delving into the nuances of those stories. OB-GYNs and ethicists told him about the sterilization policies that were supposed to protect reproductive autonomy, and how they might be improved. Hematologists and maternal-fetal medicine specialists talked about the tools they now have to reduce the pregnancy risks for those with sickle cell who choose to have kids.
Boodman's series reveals that an injustice often relegated to the distant past persists today, and highlights the voices of the foremost experts — those who've lived it.
Behind the investigation
BY ERIC BOODMAN
COERCIVE CARE
TONYa MITCHELL
SHIRLEY MILLER
This federal rule didn’t stop coercive sterilization — but blocked contraceptive access. Can it be fixed?
This federal rule didn't stop coercive sterilization — but blocked contraceptive access. Can it be fixed?
Coming soon 'What's your pain right now?' A life marked by sickle cell, reproductive injustice, and the opioid crisis
“It was scary, but I’m like, I guess I have to do this, for health reasons, like this is my only option."
PAT WELLS
learn more
Share your story
Credits
Part 2 coming next week
Sign up for Eric Boodman's email alerts so the next part of the investigation will hit your inbox as soon as it's published.
This federal rule didn’t stop coercive sterilization — but blocked contraceptive access. Can it be fixed?
COERCIVE CARE
a stat investigation
BY ERIC BOODMAN
For decades, physicians have steered sickle cell patients toward sterilization
How doctors push patients with sickle cell disease into unwanted sterilizations
PART 1
read the story
TONYa MITCHELL
“I can’t really say I consciously, 100% knew what I was giving consent to.”
SHIRLEY MILLER
“They didn’t believe that I was ever able to carry a child. But whose decision is that to make?”
COERCIVE CARE
This series began with reporter Eric Boodman reading a research paper about the increased risk of pregnancy complications associated with sickle cell disease. As he started doing interviews with physicians and patients, they kept telling him about people who’d been discouraged from having kids — and in some cases, felt pressured toward sterilizations they weren't sure they wanted.
At first, he heard such stories only indirectly. But over the course of interviewing more than 50 people with sickle cell, he met some who'd had that experience firsthand, and he spent a year delving into the nuances of those stories. OB-GYNs and ethicists told him about the sterilization policies that were supposed to protect reproductive autonomy, and how they might be improved. Hematologists and maternal-fetal medicine specialists talked about the tools they now have to reduce the pregnancy risks for those with sickle cell who choose to have kids.
Boodman's series reveals that an injustice often relegated to the distant past persists today, and highlights the voices of the foremost experts — those who've lived it.
Behind the investigation
Credits
Reporting Eric Boodman
Graphics Emory Parker
Editing Gideon Gil
Art and photo direction Alissa Ambrose
Photo editing Crystal Milner
Additional editing Rick Berke
Copy editing Sarah Mupo and Karen Pennar
Design and Development Jennifer Keefe, Julia Bujalski, Ben Lokshin
Coming soon This federal rule didn't stop sterilization — but blocked contraceptive access. Can it be fixed?
"I felt as though I was almost forced to do it. Like I had no other option."
PAT
get the series sent to your inbox
With a STAT+ subscription, you can get email alerts for reporter Eric Boodman so his stories will hit your inbox right as they’re published.
learn more
share your experience with stat
Have you or someone you know — with or without sickle cell disease — felt pressured into having a sterilization procedure?
Share your story
The doctor would treat her sickle cell pain crisis — if she promised not to get an abortion
read the story
PART 2
The doctor would treat her sickle cell pain crisis — if she promised not to get an abortion
read the story
PART 2
read the story
PART 2
The doctor would treat her sickle cell pain crisis — if she promised not to get an abortion
PART 3
read the story
PART 2
read the story
PART 2
read the story
New analysis reveals postpartum sterilization rates are higher among U.S. women with sickle cell
read the story
PART 4
This federal rule didn't stop sterilization — but blocked contraceptive access. Can it be fixed?
read the story
PART 3
This federal rule didn't stop sterilization —
but blocked contraceptive access. Can it
be fixed?
PART 3
‘What’s your pain right now?’ Sickle cell, loss, and survival in America
‘What’s your pain right now?’ Sickle cell, loss, and survival in America
PART 5
read the story
New analysis reveals postpartum sterilization rates are higher among U.S. women with sickle cell
PART 4
read the story
‘What’s your pain right now?’ Sickle cell, loss, and survival in America
New analysis reveals postpartum sterilization rates are higher among U.S. women with sickle cell
PART 4
read the story
Coming soon 'I was almost forced to do it': One sickle cell patient's story of sterilization, pressure, and regret
PART 6
'I was almost forced to do it': One sickle cell patient's story of sterilization, pressure, and regret
read the story
PART 6
'I was almost forced to do it': One sickle cell patient's story of sterilization, pressure, and regret
read the story
PART 6