Medical Education
Dear Medical Education Colleagues:

We are grateful for the continued advocacy of the UCSF community in identifying key issues that deserve our attention and action as health care professionals.

In support of that advocacy, I encourage you to consider attending the Tuesday, November 18 virtual screening and panel discussion of the film No Más Bebés from 5:30-7:30 pm. The Zoom address for this presentation will be provided upon RSVP. Please RSVP by Tuesday, November 17th, 6pm.
No Más Bebés details the stories of Latina mothers who were sterilized while giving birth at the LA County-USC Medical Center. In 1975, the Madrigal 10 sued the physicians as well as the state and federal government for coercive, involuntary, and at times secretive sterilization. That these sterilizations occurred more commonly in women of color reminded all of the history of xenophobia, medical eugenics and experimentation on women. Professionals from many disciplines were involved in either employing coercive consent processing or in performing the sterilization procedures. As a consequence of this lawsuit, changes in informed consent and hospital procedures were put in place to prevent this type of coercion from happening.

Twenty years later, in Beijing China at the United Nation’s Fourth World Conference on Women First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton felt the need to declare to the assembled that human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights. The Platform for Action that resulted from this conference detailed, among other recommendations, that all health care workers conform to human rights using ethical standards to ensure responsible, voluntary and informed consent. In addition, they called for an end to coercive medical interventions and unnecessary medication of women. 

Twenty-five years after that declaration, we unfortunately still see situations in which women are susceptible to coercion and involuntary medical care. Allegations that women detained by ICE were subjected to unwanted hysterectomies surfaced in September of this year, reminding us that women for whom English is not their native language, women with limited health literacy, and women fearful of deportation are uniquely vulnerable to coercion, misunderstanding and the lack of control over their own reproductive health. The UCSF Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology joined the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology to demand immediate investigation of these allegations. 

Forty-five years after the suit of the Madrigal 10, it is imperative that we, as people committed to equity and justice in all healthcare, do our part to ensure that reproductive rights are upheld. Most importantly, we all must work to prevent interference with reproductive rights. That prevention first begins with truth-telling—admitting that healthcare professionals in the past have behaved in ways that are incompatible with human rights; continues with education of and personal commitments by all healthcare providers to behave ethically towards all patients and to particularly work to safeguard the rights of those with the least power and privilege in our organizations; and finally to design systems that protect vulnerable patients from fallible healthcare professionals. The arc of a moral universe is indeed long, but we can help it bend towards justice.

With gratitude to the
  • coalition of UCSF Latinx organizations, and the Office of Diversity and Outreach who arranged this screening;
  • experts who will serve on the discussion panel, including panelists from the Bixby Center for Reproductive Health, Team Lily, the UCSF Department of OB/GYN and California Latinas for Reproductive Justice; and
  • Medicine for Migration (M4M) student organization for their advocacy.
Stay healthy, stay grounded and stay informed!

Catherine R. Lucey, MD, MACP
Executive Vice Dean
Vice Dean for Education
Professor of Medicine
UCSF School of Medicine