Jean’s Story

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Transcript

Dear Amy,

My name is Jean. And I was born and raised in Chicago. In 1968 I was 37 years old and I was married for a second time and I had decided that I wanted to get my tubes tied because I had two children already and my husband had a son also from his first marriage. And he approved. Anyway I was in the hospital, I think I had pneumonia, and I asked them if they were going to discharge me the next day and I said, “ you know, I’d like to get my tubes tied.” And they said “ok we will do it at 6 in the morning tomorrow and then you’re going home.” And then about 10 o’ clock that night, a nurse came in with her clipboard and she said “you know we can’t do this unless your husband agrees, he has to sign.” And I said, “well it’s my decision, although I did discuss it with him and he agreed but this is ridiculous. He is a steelworker, he’s in bed sleeping already I’m sure.” “Well we can’t do it” she said “unless he signs.” So I did call him and he did come and he did sign for it but all these years later I am still angry about that. That I was not able to make that decision for my own body about what I wanted to do.