Violence against women: Forced sterilization of women with disabilities is a reality in Europe

 In the light of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the European Disability Forum (EDF) joins the struggle against all forms of gender violence, to which thousands of women in the European Union and worldwide fall victim. All forms of sterilization without full and informed consent must be seen as violence.

Based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, EDF recognises that forced sterilization is a form of violence that violates the rights of person with disabilities to form a family, decide on the number of children they wish to have, gain access to information on family planning and reproduction, and retain their fertility on an equal basis with others.

According to Ana Peláez, chair of the EDF Committee on women with disabilities: “The ironic situation is that in some states in the EU, abortion is prohibited but it seems ok to sterilize a girl or a women, and deprive her of her legal capacity, her full and informed consent and the right to keep her fertility! All forms of sterilization without full and informed consent must be seen as violence. We must admit that all sterilization without full and informed consent are an act of violence committed by the EU member states.”