In the 1970s, thousands of Native American women were sterilized by the Indian Health Service without their consent, including here in New Mexico. KUNM’s Jeanette DeDios sat down with three state senators who helped pass a memorial to investigate this history on New Mexico in Focus. Joining her were Senators Shannon Pinto, Antoinette Sedillo Lopez and Linda Lopez, who talked about what they heard from survivors.
SENATOR LINDA LOPEZ: Many times, from the stories that we've heard, is the patient would go in, maybe for appendicitis or some other illness that they'd have to go in. But then inevitably, there was another procedure that was taking place, and they didn't find out until much later. I sincerely believe that once this memorial continues to unravel, and we get some more organization and moving forward with it, there's going to be many more stories coming forward. And I know some of the stories that we've heard too is one person, in fact, Jean Whitehorse, she has shared her story numerous times of where she had a daughter, but after this procedure, which she didn't know about, she was wondering why she couldn't have any more children. And if I may say, also too, is the issue on interpretation. It's an issue that affects both for our Indigenous communities, especially for our elders, but also in Mexican-American communities and others. We had stories shared with us too, even by one of our state representatives. She was in the state of New York under stress, under duress, etc. If her husband hadn't read the list from what she was supposed to sign, she would actually have signed away her ability for reproduction.
KUNM: Senator Pinto I'm interested to know, what did you hear from survivors or family members of survivors?
SENATOR SHANNON PINTO: Certain women did come forward and tell us their stories. It was very concerning and very emotional and very traumatic. I'm very concerned, because even just last year, there was an organization, I went to a meeting, and there was a resolution in there that they were going to put forward about kind of the birth control, but only for Indian Health Service hospitals for Native American teen pregnancy, they were the only ones listed. And I was like, “why are we singling out just this entity, just only this population?”
KUNM: Now I know one of the most common issues back then was language barriers.
PINTO: Yes, we did have a young lady come forward and tell of an incident about a patient that came from the reservation, because most of our care is referred out to specialists. They came into Albuquerque, and they just needed a certain test to be done. But the patient only spoke Navajo, and they never brought a translator. My understanding is through IHS, there is not really a record within their records saying that there needs to be a translator there.
KUNM: Senator Sedillo Lopez, how do you see survivor testimony informing your work going forward?
SENATOR ANTOINETTE SEDILLO LOPEZ: Well, I think it's the most important thing, because otherwise we don't have the records. So if survivors don't come forward and tell us what they've experienced, then it gets pushed under the rug. We're not aware of it. There's no reparations for it. I can imagine how devastating it was for these women who were sterilized without their consent to find out that they couldn't have children, when, in the culture, having children is just one of the most important things, that emotional harm. I think that this issue is so important for so many ways, and I think we should continue to focus on it.
KUNM: So the fiscal impact report for this memorial notes that it might be difficult to obtain information from the Indian Health Services. Senator Lopez, what power does this state have to get this information?
LOPEZ: We need to be able to work with our congressional representatives, of course, because they, too, have actual access to the Department of Interior and other we have a person who lives in our state who served as a Secretary of the Department of Interior, and I believe in conversations with her, that we can also learn more about what goes on within the department, and maybe some more contacts and persons that we can begin to do some information requests. I know that in one of our committee meetings, Dr. Begay also gave some information as to how she was impacted, but she's been in the system too, and I believe she and some of her other colleagues, of course, can help guide us. And those are part of the persons, I believe that as we put together this commission, this group of persons, to lay out the plan.
KUNM: Senator Pinto what's the end goal here? Does that look like a physical memorial, a state apology, possibly reparations for survivors?
PINTO: It's more about acknowledging, and I think that's where the apology is just that first step, because the a denial or just not even saying anything is, we know that's not a way to move things forward.
KUNM: So these findings are meant to be reported, but to the governor by the end of 2027, Senator Sedillo Lopez, if you run out of time and there's still so much more work to do, how will you do it?
SEDILLO LOPEZ: One of the findings can be that we need more time. We've been talking a lot about, like BIA [Bureau of Indian Affairs] records, different records that we need. But also the victims' stories will guide us. I'm guessing that we're going to find victims in a lot of different places, including urban hospitals. And so I think that when we know the scope of the problem, we can, as part of the memorial, extend it for more time, and subpoena power is going to be very important. I'm sure that some of the hospitals are not going to want to share their records. We might have to go that route.
You can watch the full episode here or on Friday March 27, 2026 on New Mexico in Focus at 7 pm on Channel 5.
