Evil Europeans and mistreated minorities

I was browsing WAYLA's blog when I stumbled across a reference to a Christian Science Monitor article on allegations that Gypsy women were sterilized in the Czech Republic. Basically, a few Gypsy women alleged that they were sterilized without their consent immediately after giving birth. The government denies it, but one such allegation help up in the Czech courts.

Jeez, regardless how true that is, this is pretty bad PR. The article even drops a line on other evil doers such as Slovakia and states that "the practice also has been reported in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria." Who exactly reported that is not clear.

Okay, it goes without saying: sterilizing without consent is morally reprehensible and plain wrong, but how widespread is such a practice? Not much. Although, I am sure isolated incidents do occur. Of course, it is very easy to raise the ghost of the evil ex-commies and their deviant ways. After all, few of this paper's readers have even heard of these countries, let alone have any real knowledge of them.

To be sure, this is a tragedy for any family that has been coerced or tricked into sterilization, but plain observation tells me this is very isolated. In Bulgaria it is not uncommon to see Gypsy families with 5-6 or more children - hardly victims of such practice. Every so often I also read about abandoned Gypsy babies (some dead in the garbage containers) - a prime example of maternal care. The sad truth is that as long as there are "mothers" who abandon their children by the garbage, there will be wacko doctors who will sterilize without the woman’s (or the government's) consent. Nasty, but hardly a government policy.