All language subtitles for Belly.Of.The.Beast.2020.720p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

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[soft inspirational music]

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[mysterious music]

- [Kelli] I rememberjust
looking

at all of the cows and the
plains.

And at 19, thinking
to myself like wow,

it's so much on this
Earth that I haven't seen

and now I'm getting ready to go

spend 15 years of
my life in prison.

- [Attorney] Can you
speak your full name

for the record please?

- Kelli LeShawn Dillon Thomas.

- [Attorney] Dillon
is your maiden name?

- Yes.

I was sentenced for shooting
and killing my husband.

The most painful thing

was when the police
came to get me

and having to separate
between me and my children,

even though I had protected
us from a monster.

- [Attorney] The blue marks
are afflicted by your husband?

- Yes.
- With?

- An iron.

- [Attorney] An iron?

- Yes.

- And this occurred
during a fight?

- Yes.

- [Attorney] And he put the
iron what, to your neck?

[soft dramatic music]

- Yes.

I'm trying to remember
what my children felt like,

their skin felt like, what
they breath smelled like.

[dark foreboding music]
[inmates shouting]

I cannot believe that my
life has come to this.

[gate banging]

I always been a fighter,

but it wasn't truly birthed
until I was in prison.

[dark foreboding music]

- It's always hard to figure
out what to wear to prison

because you can't wear red,
green, brown, khaki, orange

or denim of any color.

When people in
prison have a visit,

they have to go
through a strip search

and they have to
expose themselves

in front of at least one
guard, if not many more.

But usually visitors coming
in only wear black or white.

And I decided at some point

to bring a level of levity
and color into the visits.

Folks inside loved it.

They would see me coming and
start giggling and laughing

about what wild shoes I had on.

There was this one
correction officer

who was like, "You
can't wear those shoes.

And I was like, "Can
you point to the rule

that says that these violate
any kind of dress code?"

All the correctional officers
and the high-level folks

from the Department
of Corrections

were always treating
me like a small child.

And so at some point, I
decided to just own it

and take on the brand
of kind of being

like a tacky whipper-snapper.

[crickets chirping]

[soft solemn music]

Waking up and leaving the house
before 6:00 in the morning

and driving to prison and
spending the day bearing witness

to pretty significant trauma

is really very draining.

Whenever you're fighting
human rights abuses in prison,

you never know what to expect.

[birds chirping]

- The first thing
I remember seeing,

the girls yelling in the cells

and it just looked like
top and bottom tier

of caged animals.

Everything was exposed.

You have male officers who
can actually look in the cell

and see women sitting on the
toilet, changing their pads.

[inmates chattering]

[soft intriguing music]

A few years later,

I began to experience
like abdominal pain.

I was told I had a
abnormal pap smear

and needed a cone biopsy
to look for cancer.

The doctor said that it
seems like I had cysts

that was growing on my ovaries.

He asked me how old I was.

I was about 24.

He said, "Do you
want any children?"

I said, "Yes, I have
two sons already.

And because I'm not gonna
have a chance to raise them,

I'm looking forward to meeting
someone who actually loves me

and raising more children."

So he said, "If I find cancer,

do you want us to
do a hysterectomy?"

And I say, "Yes, if
you find cancer."

So me and four other girls were
called out to get chained up

in order to go out for surgery.

Everything's assembly line.

We're all handed a piece
of paper by two nurses.

They're standing there like,

"You guys need to
hurry up and sign."

We're trying to read as much
as we can to understand.

But for the most
part, we're looking.

They said, "This is for you
to consent to the surgery

that you're having today."

[soft intriguing music]

[beeping medical monitor]

When I came out, I felt
like something was wrong.

He told me, "Everything is fine.

We took out some cysts."

So then I asked him,

"Will I still be able
to have children?"

He was like, "Yeah,
I don't see why not."

[phone ringing]

- Can you tell me where
you're calling from?

[phone ringing]

Do you mind if I get your name

just in case we're disconnected?

- Are you starting to
actually get more hope though

around your own case?

We were getting
hundreds of letters

about horrible medical
abuses every month.

But then one day, we got
this letter from Kelli Dillon

and it was really troubling.

[soft intriguing music]

- [Kelli] It's almost
nine months passed

and I haven't had my period.

I got bad panic attacks, heart
palpitation, night sweats

and I'm damn near
100 pounds smaller.

[soft intriguing music]
[water pattering]

- She was suffering
all these symptoms

that were classic symptoms
of a surgical menopause,

but she was a young
woman in her 20s.

- Cynthia advised me,

"You need to get your
medical records."

After six months of fighting
to just get my medical records,

Cynthia sat with me
in the visiting room

and she read them to me.

"It says that you had
abnormal cervical cells."

I asked her, "Did it
ever say I have cancer?"

She said, "No, you
never had cancer."

I had been intentionally
sterilized and I
had been lied to.

[soft intriguing music]

- My name is Cynthia Chandler.

I'm the co-director of the
Justice Network on Women

which is a new organization
based in Oakland

that provides legal services
and community organizing

around the needs
of women prisoners.

When I got out of
law school in 1995,

I didn't know anything about
anything happening in prison

until really meeting people
who were really living there,

who had to make
prison their life.

- I'm HIV and Hep-C co-infected.

I'm self-disclosed.

I had heard some bits
and pieces about Cynthia.

She was a young white woman,

a Harvard grad and
Cynthia came up to me.

I can't like even imagine
what she's got to tell me.

- We're failing to provide
the most basic care

to the sickest and most
vulnerable of the women

who are in this prison system.

- She's an attorney for
compassionate release.

And I was like
compassionate release?

Like who does that?

Like who fights for
somebody that's going to die

and you fight to get them home?

- Many of us watched
Rosemary Willeby die

because the Department
of Corrections

refused to acknowledge
that she was dying.

Certainly her worst
nightmare came true.

She died absolutely alone

surrounded by not a single
person who she loved.

- [Theresa] She started
making kind of sense to me

how us women need to learn how
to defend ourselves legally

and how we need to find a remedy

for human rights
violations inside.

It shouldn't be up to an inmate

to have to sit and figure out

what my T-cell count is
and what it means to me.

- I watched two
women die on my yard

that I was very close
to and that I knew.

If I could see that the
whites in their eyes

was yellow as a caution sign,
why couldn't somebody else?

- [Cynthia] Healthcare
is so bleak.

It's hard to imagine
it's even by accident.

- [Reporter] Last year,

there were about 150
formal complaints

filed by inmates every month

from allegations of incompetence

to actual charges of
sexual harassment.

- We have healthcare staff

who you go in for
a cut on the finger

likes to give you a pap smear.

- For a chest cold,
"Lemme do a pap smear."

- I've heard inmates tell me

that they would deliberately
like to be examined.

The only male contact they get.

- You're telling me
they're coming in here

in effect asking for them
as some sort of titillation?

- It could very be,
could very well be.

[soft intriguing music]

- California's women's prisons

have always had a horrific
track record of medical care.

- This Friday, Judge Thelton
Henderson delivered a ruling

that charged
deplorable conditions

in state prisoner medical care.

- They had doctors and what
looked like broom closets

seeing prisoners.

And I went and saw
them standing in line,

the ceiling was dripping water

and they were standing
in half-inch of water

waiting to be seen.

- [Cynthia] The federal courts

took over the whole
healthcare system

for California's prisons

and placed it under
federal receivership

to bring the healthcare up
to constitutional standards.

- You know, people would say,

"Well how dare you
know, a receiver

or somebody come into our house

and tell us how to do things."

CDC is punishment

and there was a lot of pushback

on adding rehabilitation to
just CDC and making it CDCR.

They really saw the
receivership is a threat.

I worked at the Central
California Women's Facility

for about 17 years.

[wind chimes chiming]

People that do things for image

or that try to ensure
that they get their care,

they're called inmate lovers.

You're an inmate lover.

[water trickling]

I have some fear.

What kind of
repercussions will I get

for coming home and
talking about this?

I took an oath when I
graduated from nursing school

and it's that you do no harm.

But inmates become numbers.

You don't get names

and that's what makes
it easy to abuse them.

[soft foreboding music]
[birds chirping]

[inmates chattering]

- I was sitting down in
the middle of the yard.

I see this young
African-American girl

walk out of the medical building

and she's holding
her abdomen area.

And I said, "I know
it's not my business

but what kinda
surgery did you have?"

She said, "I had to get
a partial hysterectomy."

I said, "For what?"

She said, "Oh, they said
I had abnormal cells."

And then that's when
the light bulb went off.

Why's it all of a sudden

we got all of these
reproductive problems?

That's when I was like, "Aw
nah, this don't sound right."

I made a phone call
back to Cynthia.

I think that they been
doing this to other women.

I started carrying a
briefcase with forms

so I could help people
contact Justice Now.

[soft intriguing music]

[door banging]

- Thanks to Kelli's organizing

we were able to uncover
a dozen instances

of people being sterilized
during other kinds of surgeries.

[soft solemn music]

- [Inmate] I put in a
request to see the doctor

because I've had bad cramps.

And he said, "You
have fibroid tumors

and severe endometriosis,

so that causes a higher
risk of cervical cancer."

And he talked me
into a hysterectomy.

[soft solemn music]

Four years later, I went
to an OB-GYN doctor.

I asked him, "Did I have
tumors and endometriosis?"

And he said, "I don't
see any of that on here."

"He gave me hysterectomy
for severe cramps?"

- [Inmate] He did a pelvic exam.

- [Inmate] He gave
me some kinda test

and said I had some fibroid.

- [Inmate] I was told
that I had cancer cells.

- [Inmate] They told
me that I had to have

my ovaries removed.

I had no choice.

- [Inmate] We actually
used to call 'em

the surgeries of the month

because they were
happening so frequently.

So many people were
getting hysterectomies.

That was a cure-all.
That's what it was.

- It's usually impossible
to find representation

for people who are
harmed in prison

because the cases are both
too difficult and too costly

and no attorneys will take them.

In Kelli's case, the
harm was so egregious

that we were able
to secure pro bono

one of the best law firms in
the state to represent her.

- Although the fight was in me,

I was very much intimidated by
whom I was goin' up against.

- [Attorney] I saw that you
had a number of health issues

after surgery.

- I felt like I was losing
a lot of weight at the time.

I was in a lot of pain.

I thought that I was dying.

- [Attorney] What did you
weigh when you into prison?

- Like 235 pounds.

- [Attorney] What was the
least that you weighed?

- 118 pounds.

The doctor thought maybe
I was a hypochondriac.

And he said, "that, um-

that I should be happy
that I had lost weight.

So many women would
love to have lost

the amount of weight
that I've lost.

One doctor told me,
"Well how do you expect

someone to treat you

if you are,

suing them?"

- [Attorney] I'm gonna
bounce around that.

Other than the offense that
you're currently in on,

did you have any
other convictions?

- No.
- The circumstances

that led to your
current incarceration,
tell me about that.

You need to take a break?

- They would have her recount

everything about her
commitment offense

because they're
looking for evidence

of her being someone who lies,

of her being someone who
is lacking of character.

- [Attorney] How many times

did you receive
medical treatment

for injuries you suffered as
a result of domestic violence?

- Numerous. I can't,

I don't know.

I don't have a specific number.

- [Attorney] Can you
gimme an estimate?

Five, 10, 20?

- You know, my heart
had already been broken.

My spirit had
already been crushed.

I didn't have nothin' to lose.

[soft solemn music]

My attorneys postponed the
trial until I actually paroled.

I felt like I was going
to get a real chance.

I don't know, I
just thought that

like maybe this was the
beginning of the tables turning.

- [Cynthia] The
smoking gun in her case

was that they cut off the
blood supply to her ovaries

and removed them, dissected them

and they were never
supposed to do any of that.

- [Attorney] You knew that
your ovaries produce the eggs

and an egg was required
to have a baby.

- Yes.

- [Attorney] In your complaint,

it's alleged that
if you'd had known

there was a possibility
that your ovaries

might have been removed
during the surgery

you would not have
consented to it.

- Yes.
- Was the plan

that if he found
cancer at surgery,

that he was going to
add that same surgery

to a partial hysterectomy?

- That was my understanding.

- She consented to
removing everything

if and only if she had cancer

and it had spread
and was invasive.

She didn't have cancer.

- [Attorney] At any point

while you were at Madera
Community Hospital,

did anybody tell you
that all of your ovaries

had been removed?

- No.

- [Attorney] When's
the first time a doctor

told you that you may
be missing your ovaries?

- No one ever told me that.

- [Attorney] No medical
doctors ever said that to you.

- No.

The jury was predominantly
white from Fresno County.

I'm looking at this jury

hoping that they would
say, "This is wrong.

No matter what or
why she was there,

she didn't deserve
this to happen to her.

- After a seven-day trial,

the jury believed the
doctors' versions of events

that Kelli knew
something was wrong

at the end of the surgery,

that she then missed the
time she had to bring a claim

under the statute of limitations

and they use that to just
dismiss all of her claims.

- I watch my lead attorney
as well as her team

walk out the room and tears
begin to roll down their eyes.

And I just looked
at them and I said,

"Thank you for fighting for me

even if it was just
for the fight."

[soft solemn music]

- Question 43,

If you found for a plaintiff
on any of her claims

and found that those
claims were not barred

by any statute of limitations,

what total damages do
you award Ms. Thomas?

Zero dollars.

Zero dollars.

Zero dollars.

- I was looking
at these documents

that was confirming
that as a Black woman

my life wasn't shit.

It didn't mean anything.

It had no purpose.

[soft intriguing music]

I really couldn't
enjoy my coming home.

My mind was in a trial

for the first three
months of my freedom.

This photo album I
kept with me in prison.

This is my favorite picture,

Anthony comin' to
visit me in prison.

Outta the 15 years I was there,
we had about five visits.

When I left, my sons
was two and four.

So I'm watching my
children grow up

on the other side of a glass.

It was hard.

When I came home, they
were 16 and 18 years old.

I begin to hear
from my children,

"You didn't have
to go to prison.

You chose to."

I said, "Did they ever tell
you how much I loved you?

Did they ever tell
you of what I did

in order to make sure that a
hand was never laid on you?"

I posted this up on my Facebook

and it said, "This is what
domestic violence looks like."

Looking at this picture,

you can never see that I was
a victim of domestic violence

'cause it looks like we
madly in love, you know?

[soft solemn music]

[birds chirping]

- [Kids] Come on.

- [Cynthia] Okay.

Here, I'll get the door for you.

[hen clucking]

- Oh.
- Oh.

- Gross.

- [Sophia] That was
a rotten egg too.

- Okay then.
- I don't know

if I wanna pick up the next one.

- This one's okay.

[birds chirping]

- My mom-
- My mom is eccentric.

- My mom is

weird, yeah.

Professionally, she's a person
who gets people outta prison.

And for fun, she's just
like bleh and spazzes out.

- She talks to people

and then she writes
stuff on the computer

and then she makes
sure people does stuff.

- She has meetings a lot.

- Yeah.

- [Lilah] And she goes to a
prison in the desert a lot.

- [Sophia] And then she'd cry.

- She cries a lot.

- For a long time.
- Yeah.

- Activism's very
labor-intensive and annoying

and I would not do it.

It's important but boring.

- Yeah.
- I'd rather do genetics.

- Ditto.

- You don't even know
what genetics are.

- I know, right? [chuckles]

[soft solemn music]

- I grew up in a really
controlled household.

My house was our museum-perfect,
photo-ready at all times.

I'm doing things that
were just in the face

of what social norms
and standards were.

It was very key to
my teenage years

of rebelling against
my household.

I was the only girl in my
entire school with a Mohawk.

There were kids in my
school who were like,

"Why do you look so
weird?" [chuckles]

"Why do you do this?"

I found a sense of
community and comradery

with teens that were living
and working on the streets.

We used to hang out by the
Liberty Bell in Philadelphia

and snarl and make faces.

We'll have our punk regalia on

and charge like five bucks
a picture from tourists.

So there could be something
as innocent as that

to people selling drugs
to people selling sex,

basically doing whatever
they had to do to get by.

You couldn't hang out
with kids in the 1980s

in the emergence
of the HIV epidemic

and not understand the
horrors of policing,

the horrors of what happens

when people don't have
access to healthcare,

the horrors of racism.

All of this stuff
all intertwined.

I could be with those kids
in the same street corner

and my life was gonna
turn out differently

because of my class privilege
and racial privilege.

And so I felt like
it behooved me

to do something to change that.

We were all really optimistic
about Kelli's case.

It seemed like one of
those rare instances

where we really could
see justice happen.

When she lost, it
was just devastating.

And then suddenly,
a whistleblower
sent us the minutes

of a recent committee meeting

of the California
Department of Corrections.

I was trying to figure
out what to search for

and I thought for sure
it would be hidden.

And then I saw the header:

"Birth Control and
Sterilization".

Right there.

[soft intriguing music]

Their research showed it
would be very cost-effective

to sterilize women during
labor and delivery.

- They were discussing
within their meeting

about how to reclassify
tubal ligation

as medically necessary

in order for it to be
paid for by the state.

- Federal and
state laws prohibit

sterilizing people in prison

for the purpose
of birth control,

but they were doing it anyway.

So we sent a list of questions
to the Federal Receivership.

The whole job of that
office is to make sure

the laws are followed
in healthcare delivery
in the prisons.

One of the questions was had

they in fact started
sterilizing women

during labor and delivery?

And the response was that
yes, they were doing that

at two women's prisons.

This was signed by the
Federal Receiver himself.

And could he be so clueless
that he wouldn't even know

that he had just like stuck
his foot in his mouth?

[soft intriguing music]

Any hearing that came up

that even touched on
women's prisons I would go.

So there's a federal
law that made it illegal

for any entity that gets federal
dollars to sterilize people

for the purpose of birth
control who are in prisons.

And then I would present
people the minutes

and I would say, "Hey, this
state has recommended this.

This is outrageous.

This is illegal
under federal law."

They see that as a
cost-effective moment,

an opportune moment in
which to sterilize people.

- We're assured that, "No, no.

That was just something that

people talked about
in that meeting,

but they actually
weren't gonna do,"

or, "It was just on the side.

It wasn't a big deal.

They're not actually doing that.

Just don't worry your
pretty little heads."

- We were met with
comments like,

"Well those women wouldn't
really wanna have more children

anyway, would they?"

- I was in between projects,

so I was you know,
kinda prospecting

and CNN was playing
in the background.

- Tonight, a report on a
really disturbing chapter

in our history.

One that's a lot more
recent than you might think.

So we're talking about eugenics,

a word which obviously
it typically associated

with Nazi Germany.

But there was a large
eugenics movement in America

before and after World War II.

- [Reporter] The goal?

To rid the country
of the feeble-minded.

- Disability, race and
gender were the criteria.

By the 1930s, 30
states had passed laws

allowing for coercive
sterilization.

- [Reporter] But California
was in a league of its own.

The Golden State
sterilized 20,000 people.

- That blew my mind.

More people were
sterilized in California

than any other state
in the country.

[soft intriguing music]

The Germans actually
came over to California

to study California's program
and then use the lessons

to create their eugenics
program in Nazi Germany.

- [Dorothy] After World War II,

eugenics goes sort
of underground.

- [Announcer] The distribution
of people is far off balance.

High birth rates go hand
in hand with low incomes.

- It became more a policy
of population control

through birth control
policy, welfare policy.

And now it was targeted
mostly at women of color.

♪ Got enough children

♪ What do we do

♪ Got enough children

♪ What do we do

- [Dorothy] There are
government-sponsored campaigns

to sterilize Indigenous
women, women of Puerto Rico,

Mexican-origin
women in California,

as well as Black women
in the United States.

- [Reporter] You're
saying sterilize the woman

if she's had more than
two illegitimate children.

- Right.

- [Reporter] If
she's on welfare.

- Absolutely.

- Last week, a
Black Alabama couple

filed a $1 million damage
suit against the government

charging that their two
daughters had been sterilized

without their informed consent.

- I put a X on a piece of paper,

then she told me that they
were gon' give us some shots.

That's what she told me.
- I see.

- [Reporter] Why were
they giving you the shots

in the first place?

- [Interviewee] Keepin'
us from having children.

They said they didn't want
us to have no children.

- [Reporter] Did it hurt you?

[soft solemn music]

- Doctors around the country
performed hysterectomies

on young Black women just
to practice hysterectomies.

- [Anderson] Tens of thousands
of Americans were operated on

against their will or
without their consent.

- [Reporter] The government
today announced strict new rules

to protect people
who are sterilized.

- [Reporter] Guidelines
to require written
informed consent.

- Federal judge.
- To affect more than 100,000

persons a year.
- Minors under age 21,

welfare mothers, others.

- The ideas sparked in my head
that I would spend some time

looking at historical
eugenics in California.

I started to Google
and I saw an article

that Cynthia
Chandler had written.

And so I immediately
called her up

and I was like, "Is it true

that there are people in the
prisons getting sterilized?"

And she said, "Of
course, it's true."

- We've heard from
a lotta people

about the surgeries that
are happening on the inside.

What a hysterectomy is? It's
the removal of your uterus.

They typically would take
the fallopian tubes as well

and possibly the ovaries.

When the ovaries are removed

and there's that big
drop in estrogen,

people can have a lotta
different symptoms:

having a lot of hot flashes,

big mood changes and
your period stops.

And then another thing that
we were hearing from people

was tubal ligation.

The surgeon will cut
the fallopian tubes.

We've heard from individuals
who were asked to sign forms

when they were being
put under anesthesia.

If the doctor is
asking repeatedly and
you don't say yes,

they might just go
ahead and do it anyway.

Especially if you're
having a C-section, right?

Because your reproductive
organs, all of this good stuff

is already out on the
table basically, literally.

It would not be
difficult, you know?

Cut and cauterize your
tubes if they wanted to

and you don't know that.

You can't have more
children in the future.

[soft solemn music]

- I was given a six month
sentence and I was pregnant,

so I asked the judge
if I could either

be sent to a
mother/infant program

instead of going to prison,

that way I could avoid
giving birth in prison

and being separated
from my newborn baby.

And she didn't wanna do that.

They made me have a C-section.

And I kept asking them, "Why
do I have to have a C-section?"

They said, "Because
of security purposes."

"You're gonna do
major surgery on me

and cut open my body
for security purposes?"

I get to the Madera
County Hospital.

I'm handcuffed to the bed,
cut open under anesthesia.

Had a epidural.

I'm just majorly drugged up

to where I don't even know

probably what day
of the week it is.

The doctor had me sign a form.

He said, "Are we doin'
tubal ligation here?"

That's something you're
supposed to sit down

and discuss in the office
prior to the surgery.

That's not something
you just throw on me

as you're cutting me open.

And I declined and I couldn't
even sign, so I just put an X.

And I have no idea what I X'd.

- We started putting in a series

of public record act requests

to get the numbers
and the data on

how many people were sterilized.

- So this is all the data.

This is vaginal deliveries
and C-sections in here.

- [Cynthia] 222 C-sections.

393 births.

That's a really remarkably
high rate of C-section.

- [Robin] Yeah.

- [Cynthia] It's a
little fishy to imagine

that multiple people would be
giving birth on the same day,

also having C-sections

and also choosing to
have tubal ligations.

- [Robin] So you can see
there's ligate oviducts add-on.

And that kinda kills
me, the add-on part.

It wasn't necessary
for the surgery,

but we thought
we'd just take away

your reproductive capacity.

[soft intriguing music]

- Justice Now had
gotten a partial list

of tubal ligation surgeries

that have been
reimbursed to the doctor.

So the state were
paying the doctors

for having performed
these surgeries.

As an investigative reporter,

I've seen spreadsheets
that have fields removed.

I was like, "There's
more to this data

than what you guys have."

There is a culture of
secrecy in California.

They don't call it secrecy.
They call it privacy.

Not only do you have
women in prison,

you have laws around protecting
their confidentiality.

But then you have
medical privacy.

There's just layers
and layers of

plausible reasons why
somebody can say no.

So I was getting doors slammed

and stonewalled left and right.

Then it became a question of

how do I put a human
face on this data?

Justice Now had access on the
inside that I didn't have.

And so I was very anxious.

You know, hook me up here.

Gimme access to somebody
who can help me.

- In 2006, I was sentenced to
Valley State Prison for women.

I was 21 years old and I
was pregnant at the time.

- Someone asked me to
work down at the prison

in my OB department.

And I'm like "OB department?

You have an OB
department in the prison?

"Yeah.

You know, women
come in pregnant."

And I'm like "Oh.

Okay." [chuckles]

That's a new thought.

"See, when you go way
over on this side,

there's just not much fluid.

You've had this
happen to you before.

- Yeah.

- [Crystal] I was there
being seen by Dr. Heinrich.

He was eating while I was
you know, laid up on the bed

waiting to be examined.

- And he would be
doing a vaginal exam

and would be smackin' his lips

and that just grossed
the patients out.

- And I'm like, "Is
this the best time

to be eating that sandwich
while you're doing a pap smear?"

- [Corey] He'd be
working without gloves on

or eating popcorn.

It was just filthy.

He had a history of lawsuits
that resulted in settlements

where the allegations
were really serious.

We're talking
basic-level mistakes

that resulted in permanently
deformed children

or permanently deformed women.

[soft intriguing music]

- [Crystal] I ended up
working at the infirmary.

I would have to give
the inmates urine cups

and write their name on it.

While I was working
the infirmary,

Dr. Heinrich made a comment

that some people
shouldn't have kids

because they keep coming
back and forth to prison.

He sees women that come
back and forth to prison

all the time and they
keep coming back pregnant.

- Heinrich will
look at their file.

He would figure out if
this was their first time

or if this was a repeat time

and then he would make a
judgment call to pitch the woman

on getting their tubes tied.

- He would become somewhat
pushy about it and insistent.

- I talked to the
nurses all the time

and I don't know if maybe
they played a factor in

softening up. Dr. Heinrich
not to have me sterilized

because it was my
first time in prison.

- One of the challenges
with this story

and the question of eugenics,

you ultimately have
to get to intent.

You have inmates
making allegations

against people who
have PhDs, right?

And so the question then becomes

how do you know that the
crook is telling the truth?

So I'm calling Dr.
Heinrich and I get a woman.

She says, "He's not gonna talk."

She slammed the phone down,
but I'm getting desperate

and I decide to just get in
my car and drive to his house.

And I just knock on the door.

I'm drenched in sweat.

And he came to the door

and I said, "Hi Dr. Heinrich,
my name's Corey Johnson.

I'm with Center for
Investigative Reporting.

Can I have some water?"

And he stopped and he
said, "Okay, come on in."

And as I get the water,

I pull out my laptop and I show
him a spreadsheet of costs.

And I say to him point blank,

"The rules say
that sterilization
procedures were banned.

And according to
this spreadsheet,

there's well over $100,000
that has been paid

of taxpayer money on a
procedure that's banned."

And then that's when he said,

"Well that's cheaper
than welfare."

[soft dramatic music]

- [Reporter] A bombshell report

from the Center of
Investigative Reporting

shows that doctors-
- Female inmates in California

were illegally sterilized.

- [Reporter] Doctors pressured
them into tubal ligations.

- While they were on an
operating table heavily sedated.

- That's absolutely not
the appropriate time

to be attempting to get consent

for major life-changing surgery.

- [Reporter] Prison
officials claim

it helps save the state money.

- It's like a drop in the bucket

compared to quote,

- And these are by the way
mostly repeat offenders

who were sterilized.

- Where are they getting
pregnant in prison?

Like that's the first
question you have to address?

- Absolutely.
- Disgusting, eww.

- When the story came out,

within hours there were
at least 700 comments.

Within a day, there
was over 2,000.

- [Reporter] Why does the
state need to give its consent

if the women already are?

- [Reporter] We give our
criminals way too many rights

when they go to prison.

- [Reporter] People
will get up in arms

and say, "This is
like eugenics."

- [Reporter] If they
can stay out of jail

and raise their kids without
our assistance, why reproduce?

- [Reporter] Can you explain

why you consider these coercive?

- [Reporter] Since when
do prisoners' rights

trump the rights-

- [Reporter] The
State of California.

- [Reporter] Unless you
can step forward and show

that you have the
financial wherewithal

to take care of the child,
I'm gonna predict that you-

- [Corey] It got real ugly.

There were days where I just
would not look at the comments

because I didn't wanna be
messed up in the head all day.

[soft intriguing music]
[reporters chattering]

- [Adam] 'Kay. If everybody
would take a seat,

we're gonna get started.

- The fact that it
is the 21st century

and we have to ask
our state auditor

to see if women in California

are being coercively sterilized

is absolutely unconscionable
and frankly revolting.

- Joyce Hayhoe
representing California

Correctional
Healthcare Services.

First of all, we support
the sonnet request.

We believe-
- Well I certainly as chair

appreciate that you're
here to support the audit.

I think the more important
question is why you didn't know.

The Receiver was put
in place specifically

to come in and protect
the constitutional
rights of inmates.

- Mr. Kelso was not aware

until it was brought
to my attention.

- Receiver himself was not aware

of what was happening
under his watch.

That's your testimony today.
- Yes.

Yes.
- Okay.

- I do believe that the
receiver's office itself

was in fact aware
of that before then.

If you go from
September 10th, 2008

and move forward to 2010,

over 50 people were
illegally sterilized

during labor and
delivery in that period.

- Medical doctors
thought that it was okay

to sterilize women
without their permission?

- No.

Medical doctors thought it
was okay to sterilize women

having been given
informed consent.

And so most of-

- [Adam] Isn't that the same
as without their permission?

I'm confused on-

- Women were signing
consent forms.

- I'd love to see
a copy of that form

to see if I could
even understand it,

let alone a woman
that's under duress.

But this is unbelievable.

- That one should not be
asked in that environment

to give up a fundamental
right to bear children.

I've had displeasure
of a dozen times

going through people's
medical records

and learning that
they were sterilized

during unrelated
medical procedures and
they didn't know it.

The State has admitted

that they have done
these illegal surgeries,

but we don't actually
know who they did them on.

- I'd like to
prioritize this audit

so that the auditor could put
this at the front of the line

and get to it as
quickly as possible.

[soft intriguing music]

'Kay, I would remind
members of the committee,

please come to the committee
so we establish rapport.

- It was incredibly affirming
to hear the legislature

call these abuses outrageous.

We've been working for years

to get the government
to take this seriously.

Finally, the same
legislators are standing up

and doing what needs to be done.

The Department of Corrections
and the receivers claim

usually there was very
little personal knowledge

on the part of present
administrators of
this happening.

- It's my understanding
that many of these

did have some kinda consent
at the outside doctor

because these
procedures are performed

in a community facility,
just so that that's clear.

They're not performed
at the institution.

Doctors statewide felt
for whatever reason

that it was being sanctioned
by the department.

- There may be doctors who
aren't aware of the policy

or the federal law issue.

I can well imagine an outside
physician in good faith

thinking that this is a matter
of reproductive autonomy

and not knowing the conversation
that has been going on

about the inability to give
valid consent in prison.

- For inmates to sign
consent is a really big deal

because they're seen
as a ward of the court

and not really being allowed
to enter into contracts.

You would think there
would've been a red flag

when the billing departments
received those bills.

- When I arrived at the
receivership in 2008,

we did not use standard
medical billing codes.

And so there really
was no easy way for us

to know what we were paying for.

- That seems very
unbelievable to me.

To do a medical procedure,

there's incredible layers of
paperwork that has to happen

that has to be vetted
by a medical committee
at each prison.

[soft intriguing music]
[pen scratching]

So I would suspect that
many high up officials

were in fact aware
of what was going on

and potentially part of it.

- Everything had to
go through committee

and everything had
to be documented

as to why this was necessary.

[soft intriguing music]

- At the point that
Dr. Heinrich was hired,

sterilization procedures
have been going on for years

at multiple prisons.

He strongly believed
that there were women

that were gaming the system
and that needed to be stopped.

- He was communism and costs

and he tried to save the state
and the prison system money.

- That attitude
tracked precisely

to the historical attitude
of the California leaders

of the eugenics movement.

They had always used cost
benefit as the justifier

for why they were doing
what they were doing.

And so in that way, Heinrich
was part of a legacy.

If you just stop and
make him the face of it,

do you really get
at the problem?

[soft serene music]
[birds chirping]

- [Player] Oh!

That's two.

- Thank you, sweetheart.

- Have a good day.
- Have a good day.

You too.

[lively ice cream truck music]
[birds chirping]

This is my space for right now.

Of course I desire
to have my own home.

But my mom's older and you know,

I feel good about bein'
able to be here with her.

I wasn't able to be
here with my dad.

I lost my dad when
I was in prison.

So for God to gimme opportunity

to be with my mom
in her latter years

though we fight
like cats and dogs.

But at the same
time, she tough too.

So she's one of
my best opponents.

My relationship with my
oldest son is very strained.

He remembers some of the
episodes of domestic violence.

I had to back up and give my
son the space that he needs

in order to figure out what
happened to not only him but us.

[Skype ringtone music]

How you doin'?

- [Kelli] What's up with it?

- You all right?

But my youngest son doesn't
remember the violence

and the interaction
with me as a mother.

Listen, I supposed
to come down there.

I'm tryin' to get
Anthony to come with me.

And I think that at times
that he look at the fact

that me and you, we get
along a little bit better

because you just let shit.

If it happened, it happened.

Bygones is bygones, okay?

We passed that.

- [Kelli] Right.

Thank God for this
technology of FaceTime.

All right then,
baby. I love you.

But to me, the FaceTime
is a glass window

like when I was incarcerated.

Instead of me havin'
all these scars

from the things
that happened to me,

I want like things that
symbolize my victories.

And so to me, like this
with the three butterflies

that represent me
and my two sons.

And soon as I got this tattoo,

I just start feelin'
liberated, you know.

It's me taking the
power back on my body

and putting things there
that represent who I am

as opposed to what
I've been through.

[birds chirping]

- Morning everybody.

Good morning.

All right.

- We made a plan to speak
to different legislators

that we thought
would be strategic.

And Senator Jackson was
at the top of my list.

- Boy, this thing moves
slowly. Doesn't it?

- She showed up to the hearing

when she isn't on
that committee.

That doesn't happen. [chuckles]

Legislators that
are on committees

don't show up to their hearings.

Legislators that
are on committees

are twiddling their
thumbs and falling asleep.

- Great. Thanks.

Okay, bye-bye.

When I first learned
of what was going on,

I was absolutely horrified.

The fact that these women were
being treated like objects

and as non-human beings,
how could this be happening?

We had outlawed
sterilization since 1979

and many of us assumed that
it had ended at that time.

A blight on our state history
but nonetheless had stopped.

So this bill was to
make it very, very clear

that doctors cannot perform
these procedures in prison.

Period.

- I did not know that actually.

- If I had known that
that was illegal,

I would not have obtained
the consent for it.

[employees chattering]

[phone ringing]

- I'm typing up a survey

breaking down each different
component of the bill

and asking people on the inside
if they agree or disagree

and then there's room
for people to write more

about what it is that they feel.

"Keep up the great work,"

or, "This is why I disagree
with a particular part."

They just have room to
explain that if they want to.

- [Automated Voice]
Call from an inmate at

the Central California
Women's Facility.

- [Inmate] Hey, how are you?

- Hello.
- Good, how are you doin'?

- [Courtney] Justice Now
is the only organization

that we know of that has people

who are currently
imprisoned on the board.

- Do you feel like folks are
feeling good about the bill

or they're having some
significant concerns?

- [Cynthia] And how
has that been going?

- Yeah.

- We're going to be
bringing to the legislature

actual words and experiences
from people inside.

And so that information that
you're gathering is so crucial.

- Yeah. Thank you so much.

[gentle music]

- [Inmate] I was naive. I
really didn't know what to do.

I just went along
with their doctor

'cause I figured he knew best.

- [Inmate] I didn't know
that I won't have children.

- [Inmate] I've been told,
"Well you're pre-menopausal.

You're past breeding
age," like I was a cow.

- [Inmate] I would've
loved to have a child.

- [Inmate] I've seen
it happenin' more so

with Hispanic, African American.

You don't hear too
much of it happenin'

in the Caucasian descent at all.

- [Inmate] We're
women in prison.

Who cares if they mess up
our reproductive system?

We're prisoners.

We shouldn't be able
to reproduce anyway.

- There's certain things
that I picked up in prison

that I believe were
positive habits.

This is a habit that
I got out of prison

is after we use the
sink, we spray it down.

Wish there's more
people do that.

But you know, when
you in prison,

you develop this germaphobe.

You got eight girls
using the same sink.

I got one week left for school.

It has been the toughest month

and I'm only at undergrad.

Just imagine how it's gon' be me

trying to go after my masters.

- I think-

- I'm hoping, is it?

Can I hope?

- You certainly can.
- Okay.

[group laughing]

I'm hoping to be
completed at least

a semester coming
out of incarceration.

I have less than a year left.

- Oh wait-

Social studies.

- I really would like to
work with battered women

and troubled young teen girls.

[smooth rhythmic music]

- Welcome back to The Dialogue.

We are talking about the
effects of trauma, abuse

and domestic violence
on the Black community.

We're starting with
Ms. Kelli Dillon.

She is a survivor
of domestic violence

and an advocate for
prevention and intervention.

- Most of the people see
victims as very fragile, docile.

- Helpless.
- Helpless.

- White.

- We are seen as aggressive.

- When a police officer
approaches a female

African American or Latina,

they automatically ask them,
"Are you gang affiliated?"

92% of all the women
that are in prison

are in prison because
of domestic violence.

- I have already been
sexually assaulted.

I had already been held hostage
in the house for three days.

When I call, the police may say,

"You don't look like a victim."

So I had lost hope in the people

that were supposed to be
there to protect and serve me.

At that point, I had had it.

Either I was gonna get out
by foot or in a body bag.

I just wanted out.

- We've gotten over 400
responses on this survey so far

and there are more
coming in every day.

And that's pretty significant
when you consider that

there are approximately
3,000 people inside CCWF.

[soft intriguing music]

"I did not know that
I had another choice.

I was not given follow-up care."

It's you know, just a line of
agree, agree, agree, agree.

People came out of the
woodwork through that survey.

It goes deeper than even we
who've been working on this

for a decade now.

- [Chair] If you could go ahead
and present SP-1135 please.

- My name is Kelly Densmore

and I am reading a statement
from somebody inside.

"At Valley State
Prison for Women,

my gynecologist tried to get
me to have a hysterectomy."

- [Inmate] You take a
big risk by speaking out

on the leases that happen
to you behind bars.

- "In prison, you worry about

filing a complaint
against a doctor

because the threat of
retaliation is always there."

- [Inmate] But I can't say
as a woman and not speak out.

- "The United Nations
convention on human rights

talks about the
right to family."

- [Inmate] I understand
that we're where we're at,

but I'm still a human being.

- "We are not animals."
- They don't care about us.

- [Inmate] There's no
accountability here.

[inmates chattering]

- [Inmate] This is not okay.

- "Please pass this bill as
a step in the right direction

towards universal human rights,

not just human rights for
people outside of prison."

- I was the attorney
who actually reviewed

Kelli Dillon's medical records

and had the displeasure of
having to communicate to her

that she had been sterilized

without her
knowledge or consent.

She was one of 10 women in
the California prison system

that I've had that
same conversation with,

all of whom were women of color,

who were darker
skinned women of color

and/or transgender people.

I'm incredibly heartfelt

that this is now
being taken seriously

and I strongly
support this bill.

Thank you.

- Are there speakers in
opposition to the bill?

- We represent 5,500
obstetricians and gynecologists

here in California.

We oppose the bill

because by completely
banning sterilization,

we're taking away a woman's
right to consent to a procedure.

I've had patients with
complex heart conditions.

If they were undergoing
a ceasarean section,

I would recommend for
tubal sterilization,

given the risks of any
subsequent pregnancy
to their health.

For every
sterilization procedure

in which I have personally
participated in,

the patient is asked
to not once, not twice

but dozens of times
by multiple providers

whether or not she
would like to proceed

with the sterilization.

- [Cynthia] We were
shocked that our opposition

came from the American College

of Obstetricians
and Gynecologists.

Very few of their members,

let alone their leadership
work in prisons.

- The priority of ACOG

is the health and
wellbeing of our patients

and we're hopeful that
we can find a process

through which these women will
have access to sterilization.

- Their testimony

created a tremendous
obstacle for this bill.

They want people to make
reproductive choices,

but we don't know what
goes on in prison.

The prison is a black hole.

- Inside a prison setting

to ask somebody to make
a decision like that

is not a really good ideal.

People have total
control over you.

If you don't follow the rules

or anybody simply says that
you didn't follow the rule,

you may have time added to the
time you're already serving.

- We needed to make our case
that indeed these procedures

were being done without consent.

- [Cynthia] You know, we've
been having a really hard time

identifying who the people were

who were sterilized while
they were giving birth, right?

As opposed to folks like you

who were sterilized
during other operations.

And that's one of the reasons

why it would be so
key to feature you.

I think it's really
our best hope

of stopping the sterilizations

and we could practice what
your testimony's gonna be.

- Do I have to go in
front of like a jury

or somethin' like that?

Like what do you mean testify?

- [Cynthia] When a
legislator creates a bill,

it has to travel in front
of a bunch of committees

before it goes before the
whole Senate to vote and then-

- I have a obligation
to back Cynthia.

Because if it was not for her,
I would not have found out

everything that
had happened to me.

But I couldn't go through like
another interview, testimony,

hearing or anything
because once I'm done,

you know, I leave and I go
home and everybody go home.

But I'm left now with
having regurgitated

all of those emotions
and feelings.

Now they're here,
they're here and here

and then no one's there
to help me process it.

Yes, I have the
power to change lives

with the awareness
would happen to me,

but it's still my story
and I still own it.

I still have the say so
of who I wanna tell it to

and why I wanna tell it.

It belongs to me.

[clock ticking]

- The bill isn't moving forward

and it's just
exhausting everyone.

It's not just me.

It's the whole organization.

And I think on an organizational
leadership perspective,

it's like how long
can I continue not
just to push myself?

But how long can I continue
to push everyone else?

What ranking are you
on that game now?

- Aren't you like 30?

- [Lilah] 29.

- [Cynthia] 29. Now how may
people playing that online game?

- I can check what
place mine is now

'cause it won't change.
- Hundreds of thousands.

- [Cynthia] Hundreds
of thousands?

- At least.

- My kids were
telling their friends,

"Oh yeah, that's my mom.

The champion for everybody else.

Your always promoting
leadership with people inside

when my friends and I are
dealing with all this crap

at school and you're
not helping us."

And I was like, "Oh my
gosh, you're right."

I spend all my resources and
basically all my capacities

in building up other people

that I was neglecting
my children.

If this goes nowhere

and I've lost all that
time with my kids, I-

Yeah, that would
just be a shame.

- [Attorney] What was
your thought process

as to whether or not you
wanted to have more children

when you got out?

- I had a hope and
a possibility that

I might find a man that
would love me and treat me,

who would love me and that

I might be able to
like have a family

or a chance to be a mother.

[group chattering]

- Hi.

Good to see you.

- How you been?
- Good, how are you?

- Oh, I love your haircut.
- Thank you.

Hi Tammy, nice to meet you.

We ready today?

All right. [exhales]

Hard to cram in.
- I know.

- [Kelli] And that's why I
was like something so tragic

in two, three minutes.

- [Misty] Right.

- Like how do I sum up?

I mean how do we
sum up what happened

in two or three
minutes, you know?

- Maybe you should
start it out like that.

"How do I sum up
what they did to me

in two or three minutes?"

- We're testifying

in front of the Assembly
Health Committee.

And if it passes that committee,

then it will go to
the assembly floor.

And if it passes that,

then it will be going to the
governor's desk after that.

So we're keeping
our fingers crossed

that he will see how
important this is

and sign the bill into law.

- Now is more so
about making it okay

to say, "Kelli,
that did happen."

Acknowledging that
it's a part of me.

- And then moving
forward with that.

- And moving forward with it.

- Yeah.

- It was one thing to
fight about what happened,

but then it's another thing
to settle with the fact

that this is what happened
and this is now who you are

for the rest of
your life, period.

Every time I've
dated, and I'm happy.

I'm ecstatic about
the relationship.

I'm falling in love.

And then all of a sudden
it comes crashing down

when they say, "I would love
to have a kid with you."

And when they say that,
then I really feel unworthy.

I feel unwhole.

You know, I feel ashamed.

And so there's a part of me

that's tired of
feeling that way too.

[tense music]

- I have with me here
today Kelli Dillon.

She is a domestic
violence counselor,

a gang interventionist.

She has dedicated her
life to ending violence

against women in her community

and also experienced
sterilization abuse

while imprisoned
here in California

and is here today
to share her story.

- I am a survivor
of non-consensual,
unlawful sterilization

that was performed on me
at the age of 24 in 2001

while I was a inmate in Central
California Women's Facility.

I'm here to testify that what
this bill represents is real

for the women that
are incarcerated

and this thing has happened to.

I wanted a second chance at life

and I wanted a second
chance at being a mother.

I trusted.

[Kelli sobbing]
[gentle music]

I trusted the surgeon to
respect and to acknowledge

that I still had a future
and that I wanted one.

I feel like I've been
robbed of the fullness

that could have been given to me

had this not happened to me.

Did this happen to me because
I was African-American?

Did it happen to me
because I was a woman?

Did it happen to me
because I was an inmate?

Or did it happen to me
because I was all three?

As I'm sitting here
listening to myself,

I'm saying to myself like
damn, this is a sad-ass story.

Where the fuck is
my happy ending?

I deserve a fresh new start.

I'm ready to fall in love.

I'm ready to be loved.

I'm ready to have a home.

I'm ready to see the world.

I'm a good person

that a lot of fucked up
shit has happened to.

I'm ready.

I am so, so ready.

I just want to
finish up by saying

that this bill will help
to protect other women

who have the opportunity
to be rehabilitated

and to actually restore
the quality of their life

and the gift that
life has to offer

which is motherhood
and having children.

As a survivor of non-consensual,
unlawful sterilization,

I'm asking you to
approve this bill.

- atherine Williams with the
ACLU of California in support.

- Emma Hartung of Legal Services

for Prisoners with
Children in strong support.

- Rebecca Gonzales, National
Association of Social Workers

California chapter in support.

- They all said aye.

- Yes, so?
[Kelli exhales]

[people chattering]

[group chattering]

We're a team.

This was an amazing team today.

[gentle music]

- [Reporter] Governor Jerry
Brown has signed a bill

bringing an end to forced
prison sterilization.

- The bill passed with
bipartisan support.

It's criminal behavior
now to do this

and we've let the corrections
system know they're on record.

- [Cynthia] They cannot
sterilize people in prison

for the purpose of birth
control ever again.

- This bill will set a standard

for the other prisons
throughout United States.

Because this is not
just happening here

in the state of California.

It's actually
happening all over.

- I've thought from
the very beginning

that this bill should've
been called the

Kelli Dillon Anti-coercive
Sterilization Bill, you know.

I think,

but for her inspiration and
her courage early, early on,

Justice Now wouldn't
have even been

investigating this stuff.

We would never would've
found out about the abuses,

let alone would there
have been a bill.

- This is just the beginning.

This is just the beginning.

[group chattering]

- Look at the fucking shoes!

[group laughing]

Look, everybody look
at our founder's shoes!

- Aren't they fun?
- They are really fun.

- When people say, "Oh, we
can't change the prison system,"

yes, we can.

Because we are.

We are change. We are
proof that it can happen.

[group cheering]

Our mission of Justice Now is
to have formerly incarcerated

and women that are on the board

have the chance to
come into Justice Now

and transition into
bigger leadership roles

and run Justice Now.

♪ Make up your mind

♪ What you searching for

♪ Is it money

♪ Is it something like freedom

♪ Nothin' against myself

♪ But I can really see myself

♪ Come around, come
around, come around ♪

♪ Now I'm holding it back

- I was just talking
to my son, right?

And I was telling him
about the graduation

because I never got a
chance to do those things.

The first time I didn't
get a chance to graduate

because of me being
a teenage mom,

then I didn't get a
chance to graduate

from medical assisting school

because of the domestic
violence and abuse.

And me coming home from prison,

like this means
everything to me.

[smooth rhythmic music]

- [Emcee] Kelli Dillon.

♪ Make up your mind

♪ What you searching for

♪ Stake your claim

♪ Is it fame

♪ Do you see your
name in lights ♪

♪ Make up your mind

♪ What you searching for

♪ Is it money

♪ Is it somethin' like freedom

[birds chirping]

- [Cynthia] The bill
is the culmination

of my work at Justice Now,

but there's still so much
that needs to be done.

I'm frustrated this isn't a
bigger national conversation.

We can't afford to forget.

[soft solemn music]

- The bill was so needed because

Department of Corrections
had been spitting on

women's sterilization
problem for years.

- But now that there's
been a small victory,

they're blocking advocates

or anyone who's coming
in from the outside

from being able to come in
freely to interview inmates.

- [Cynthia] There
are women today

that need reproductive care

but absolutely cannot get it
because of the retaliation.

- [Inmate] The doctor told me,

"Thanks to your fellow inmates,
I'm not doing nothing."

- [Corey] When they say that
CDC is the belly of the beast,

it's literal.

[soft intriguing music]

[doors banging]

- We have yet to get an apology.

We have yet to be acknowledged.

We have to crack
this thing wide open.

CDC has to be made accountable.

- So yes to me,
that's a good thing.

As to whether I think
it should be illegal?

[mysterious music]

Not necessarily.

Even if it's not
medically necessary,

it could or would in the
long run save state funds

like doctor has said.

So,

you know, was he wrong
in that estimation?

Probably not.

Because

as I said the ideal
time to do a tubal

is when you're already in there.

It just takes a couple more
minutes and a couple more snips.

- Good morning, Mr.
Chair and members.

I'm here to proudly
present Assembly Bill 1764

which will provide
redress to people

who were involuntarily
sterilized

under California's
previous eugenics laws

and female inmates in
California state prisons

who were sterilized without
proper authorization.

This bill provides
material acknowledgement

of this injustice

by creating the
Forced Sterilization
Compensation Program.

[uplifting music]

♪ Ooh

- Like I always talked about
where's the happy ending?

Like no, I'm unsatisfied.

There gotta be a happy ending.

I watch too much,

well I live in LA and Hollywood.

It has to be a
fucking happy ending.

Like there has to be
happy ending somewhere.

♪ What's going on

♪ When I gotta fight for a
right that is rightfully mine ♪

♪ What's going on

♪ When the world can decide
if a caged bird flies ♪

♪ Or ever get a chance to grow

♪ Too many people
are invisible ♪

♪ It's a problem

♪ How can we ignore
what's going on ♪

♪ I got questions
I need answers ♪

♪ It's been too long

♪ Why

♪ I cry

♪ Oh why do these tears
keep running dry ♪

♪ But I just keep fighting

♪ 'Cause it ain't over

♪ Till it's over

♪ It ain't over till it's done

♪ Till these
shackles are broken ♪

♪ It ain't over

♪ 'Cause some
wounds never heal ♪

♪ Do you see what you done

♪ See what you done

♪ 'Cause some
wounds never heal ♪

♪ Do you see what you done

♪ See you what you done

♪ 'Cause some
wounds never heal ♪

♪ Do you see what you done

♪ What's going on

♪ We got strength but no power

♪ All we ever wanted
was what's ours ♪

♪ Then one day we wake up
and everything has changed ♪

♪ Who can I blame

♪ Who's gonna carry the shame

♪ After all this pain
I'll never be the same ♪

♪ Why

♪ I cry

♪ Oh why

♪ But while I still got time

♪ I'll just keep on fighting

♪ 'Cause it ain't over

♪ No, it ain't over

♪ Till it's over

♪ It ain't over till it's done

♪ Till these
shackles are broken ♪

♪ It ain't over

♪ Ooh

♪ 'Cause some
wounds never heal ♪

♪ Do you see what you done

♪ See what you done

♪ 'Cause some
wounds never heal ♪

♪ Can you see what you done

♪ See what you done

♪ Oh

♪ 'Cause some
wounds never heal ♪

♪ Do you see what you done

♪ Now we won't lay down

♪ We're survivors

♪ All my scars
are my reminders ♪

♪ We won't lay down

♪ We're survivors

♪ All my scars
are my reminders ♪

♪ 'Cause it ain't over

♪ 'Cause it ain't over

[soft soothing music]