Sterilization is a medical intervention that causes the permanent loss of reproductive capacity. It was a semiofficial tool under communism to control the Roma population. Generally they were informed, compensated, and sometimes pushed for the procedure. Some attribute this situation to racism, as typically large Roma families are seen as a burden on the state and a social risk for not assimilating successfully into mainstream white Czech society. The situation, however, has continued unofficially until recently and has been administered without proper consent and without compensation on women even after giving birth to their second child. Some Czech doctors defend the procedure, claiming it is recommended after a second Caesarean section, for example, when the uterus is weak and another pregnancy could rupture it.
The Czech Public Defender of Rights (Ombudsman) reviewed 87 cases of illegally sterilized women. In Dec. 2005, his investigation confirmed that sterilization without proper consent still exists in modern day Czech society and that the procedure wasn't even necessary in most of these cases. Most of these women reported that while in labor, doctors told them to sign the sterilization consent form or they risk death. Many doctors, they say, didn't explain what sterilization was, except as a good procedure for their health. Others were in labor pain or under anesthesia, and didn’t know what they were signing.
The Ombudsman suggested the number of victims could even be much higher. For Roma, women don't feel comfortable talking about such a personal issue in public. In their culture, women who give birth to as many children are well respected by their husbands and community. When a woman cannot perform this expected duty, she is looked upon as 'barren' and 'useless'. Some may even get divorced, while many others live feeling inadequate and guilty for not being able to have children. As for white Czechs, few of them have come out publicly with their illegal sterilization cases. While they worry about their own privacy, they try to shield themselves away from other Roma victims who made this issue appear as a Roma cause, since the majority victims in public are Roma.
The illegal sterilization practice has continued unreported for years. But more women felt encouraged to file official complaints in the past two years, especially after one victim had sued a public hospital for illegally sterilizing her upon giving birth to her second child at the age of 19, and won at least an official apology for now. According to Czech legal system, if more than three years had elapsed since her sterilization in 2001, she loses the chance for financial compensation. However, the Czech Supreme Court may reconsider the Statute of Limitations for illegally sterilized victims any day now. Dozens of victims are already awaiting their day in court. Just this past July, the Czech government’s Committee for Biomedicine and Human Rights announced it may consider compensating victims, who were sterilized without consent between 1966-91, with payments of about $10,000.