What is compulsory sterilization?

Compulsory sterilization—also called forced sterilization, involuntary sterilization, or coerced sterilization—is the practice of permanently removing an individual’s ability to reproduce without the person’s free, full, and informed consent. The practice is typically done to women through tubal ligation, hysterectomy, or endometrial ablation, but vasectomy has also been used as a method to sterilize men.