New Mexico Orders Statewide Probe of Alleged IHS Sterilizations of Native Women

New Mexico’s Legislature approved a measure sending the Indian Affairs Department and the Commission on the Status of Women to investigate alleged forced and coerced sterilizations of women of color by the Indian Health Service and other providers, a move that directly touches patients treated at the IHS hospital in Gallup, McKinley County. The measure requires findings to be delivered to the governor by the end of 2027.

The probe responds in part to the public testimony of Navajo woman Jean Whitehorse, who says she was admitted to the Gallup IHS hospital for a ruptured appendix in 1972 and was 22 and a new mother at the time. Whitehorse said she remembers experiencing "extreme pain" as providers presented her with a flurry of consent forms before rushing her into emergency surgery, and that a tubal ligation performed then rendered her unable to have more children. Whitehorse, whose Navajo name means "Many Children," testified before the Legislature’s Indian Affairs Committee on Feb. 3 and spoke at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues this spring.

The state review will build on earlier investigations. In 1974 physician Connie Redbird Uri, identified as Choctaw and Cherokee, reviewed records from 26 of 35 IHS hospitals with obstetrics wards and alleged the agency had sterilized as many as 25 percent of its female patients of childbearing age; Uri’s interviews found some women were unaware they had been sterilized, some said they were bullied into consenting, and some were misled to believe the procedure was reversible. A 1976 Government Accountability Office audit found that the Indian Health Service sterilized 3,406 women in four of the agency’s 12 service areas between 1973 and 1976, including in Albuquerque, and reported some patients under the age of 21 and many consent forms that did not comply with federal regulations meant to ensure informed consent. The GAO audit covered limited years and service areas.

Advocates and researchers place the practices in a wider historical context. One account frames sterilizations from 1907 as continuing "as recently as 2018," and some historical estimates hold that by the 1970s between 25 and 50 percent of Native women of childbearing age were sterilized, mainly by the IHS. Academic work cited in legislative discussion notes the IHS began family planning services in 1965 and that 1970 census figures showed higher birth rates for Native women, with Navajo women averaging 3.72 children and Apache women 4.01.

Senator Linda Lopez, a sponsor of the measure, said, "It’s important for New Mexico to understand the atrocities that took place within the borders of our state." International human rights attorney Keely Badger framed the issue in global legal terms, saying, "There is now a global movement to bring the heinous nature of these acts globally to the forefront... Coerced and forced sterilization under international law is considered a crime against humanity and in certain contexts considered genocide, both biological and cultural genocide." Reporting of the measure noted the Indian Health Service and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to multiple emails requesting comment.

Legislative materials under consideration also include a joint memorial proposing a truth and reconciliation commission, a memorial to victims, and a statewide Native-led reproductive justice pilot program. As the Indian Affairs Department and the Commission on the Status of Women begin their work, major questions remain about how many New Mexico patients were affected, what records exist at Gallup and Albuquerque facilities, and what legal remedies survivors and families may pursue. If completed, the state inquiry could make New Mexico the first state to formally investigate and acknowledge these alleged abuses.