Editing Compulsory sterilization (section)

===South Africa===
In [[South Africa]], there have been multiple reports of HIV-positive women sterilized without their informed consent and sometimes without their knowledge.<ref name="Essack">{{cite journal|last1=Essack|first1=Zaynab|last2=Strode|first2=Ann|year=2012|title='I feel like half a woman all the time': The impacts of coerced and forced sterilisations on HIV-positive women in South Africa|journal=Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equity|volume=26|issue=12|pages=24–34|doi=10.1080/10130950.2012.708583|s2cid=1141875|issn=1013-0950}}</ref> The Commission for Gender Equality investigated 48 sterilizations that were performed in fifteen state hospitals without patient consent from 2002 to 2005.<ref name=":20">{{Cite news|title=Dozens of HIV-positive S. African women forcibly sterilized|url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/dozens-hiv-positive-african-women-forcibly-sterilized-69198404|access-date=2021-04-09|website=ABC News|language=en}}</ref> This investigation into these hospitals revealed that medical providers threatened to not assist women during birth if they did not sign consent forms to being sterilized.<ref name=":20" /> In most cases these forms were not explained to patients by medical personnel. However, the inquiry was hampered by hostile hospital staff and the sudden "disappearance" of patient files. An interview with one of these patients revealed that she did not learn that she had been sterilized during her C-section until a physician told her eleven years after that she had no uterus.<ref name=":22">{{Cite news|date=2020-02-27|title=Forced sterilisation in South Africa: They removed my uterus|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-51637751|access-date=2021-04-05}}</ref> She went to the hospital were the surgery was performed and was told by a physician that it was done to save her life and consent was received from her mother.<ref name=":22" /> The patient did not have HIV or any other life-threatening condition, and her mother had not consented to the removal of her uterus.<ref name=":22" /> The report from the Commission for Gender Equality noted that some of the patients interviewed were given consent forms that they did not understand and were coerced to sign.<ref name=":32">{{Cite magazine|title=Report: South African Hospitals 'Forcibly' Sterilized Women With HIV|url=https://time.com/5790217/south-africa-hospitals-hiv-women-sterilization/|access-date=2021-04-05|magazine=Time}}</ref> The bulk of these operations were performed to prevent women who are HIV-positive from having more children.<ref name=":32" /> The HIV epidemic in South Africa has a prevalence of 13% and has largely affected the family structures in the country.<ref name=":32" /> Medical staff of these hospitals have justified their actions as an effort to stop the growing HIV numbers in the country that exhaust the healthcare systems.<ref name=":20" /> The Commission urged Health Minister Zweli Mkhize to take action against these state hospitals and to provide some form of redress to the many affected women.<ref name=":32" />