Take My Hand(60)

“When did the family find out that India and Erica had been sterilized?” asked the senator.

“Later that afternoon, another nurse from the clinic, Civil Townsend, made a visit to the girls at their home and learned they had been taken to the hospital. When she arrived at the hospital, she was informed the surgery had already taken place that morning.”

There was silence in the room as the senator and his colleagues scribbled on notepads. I could not see Lou’s face, but I watched his profile carefully from where I was seated.

“Mr. Feldman, did the clinic agents ever reveal why they authorized surgery for the girls?”

“The director of the clinic has given a statement that the reason for the operations was that the girls were sexually active and that the surgery was performed to prevent their pregnancy. They had been taken off Depo-Provera for reasons related to concerns around the safety of the drug, and she felt the only way to ensure against pregnancy was sterilization.”

Lou was defending my actions, though he failed to mention that I had not been authorized to cease the drug. But Mrs. Seager knew why I had taken them off. Still, she had chosen to move forward with the sterilization.

“Mr. Feldman, why do you believe that the system failed these girls?”

“Senator, let me give some context to the system under which the Williams family lives. The family receives $147 per month from the Alabama Department of Pensions and Security, as well as food stamps. In order to receive this aid, they are visited each week by a government representative. They are surrounded by a welfare state upon which they depend for their very existence. So it is understandable they can be easily coerced into doing what is recommended to them. It is a very sophisticated, though perhaps unintentional, form of coercion, but it is coercion nonetheless.”

Lou’s voice gained volume. He was rolling, and suddenly he didn’t seem so young anymore.

“Would this medical complex have permitted a middle-class white or Black parent to so easily sign away his child’s ability to procreate? Would the middle-class parent, absent the kinds of dependency programs exerted on a welfare family, have even considered surgical sterilization for his children? I believe this committee will find that the daughters of middle-class families would not have been sterilized. It is the free clinic patient who is fair game for this most final of birth control methods.”

I dared not move. Even Senator Kennedy didn’t look like he was blinking. The room was quiet and still.

“Sterilization is not birth control, especially when applied to minors. It is not the same as a birth control pill. It fundamentally and forever halts the ability to conceive. Frankly, it is mayhem. And this, Senator, frightens me.”

Senator Kennedy breathed audibly. I could hear it through his microphone. Lou’s hair was slick at the nape, where he was sweating at the collar. Someone coughed, and it echoed.

“Mr. Feldman, what do you propose?”

“I propose that strict guidelines for sterilization be established and distributed to all agencies, hospitals, or individuals who, in any way, participate in federal-or state-funded sterilization programs. I have every reason to believe that what happened to the Williamses is not uncommon, that for some time now, OEO-funded and HEW-funded family planning projects have been securing sterilization operations for the minor children of poverty-stricken families, particularly poor Black families.”

The room broke out in murmurs. Senator Kennedy tapped his gavel. “Mr. Feldman,” said the senator slowly, “that is a very serious charge. Can you tell us what you base that statement on?”

I wished we’d had time to track down other women before this hearing. I was pretty sure that Lou didn’t have as many depositions as he needed at that moment. But Lou answered the senator with math.

“Five hundred planning units participated in this program in 1971, just two years ago. I have read interoffice memos that indicate about 80 percent of those units desired to perform sterilization operations. Senator, that is a lot of units. I also have a report from a man in charge of operations for OEO. He estimates that there are forty to sixty units around the country performing sterilizations. I believe there are many more than that.”

“And your point is that there are no guidelines at the present time in relationship to these sterilizations?”

“There are no guidelines established by OEO, and apparently not by HEW. The Family Planning Clinic in Montgomery receives a certain amount of money each year for sterilizations, but they do not, as far as I am aware, have any formal procedures to guide the physicians and members of the units as to how the sterilizations are to be decided on and conducted. Senator, I implore you and the members of your committee to give this matter your closest attention.”

“Thank you, Mr. Feldman.”

Lou had hit them right between the eyes. I could see the side of his face, but I still could not make out his expression.

“Welcome, Mr. Williams, to the committee. We had a nice visit over in my office yesterday with your mother and daughters.”

“Yes, sir,” Mace said. He pulled at his shirt collar.

“We want to tell you how much we appreciate the fact that you are here this morning.” The senator was turning on his charm again, and Mace appeared to relax.

“I sure appreciate it, sir.”

“As you know, Mr. Williams, we are trying to consider legislation so that the kind of thing that happened to your children will not happen to other children. That is why we have asked you to help us with this, and we want to thank you very much for being here today. We know it is not easy to share with us the kind of concern and sadness you must feel, but I would appreciate it if you could just tell us what happened to your daughters, in your own words.”