Thank you, Chair.
Thank you all for coming.
Dr. Abbas, you hit the nail on the head. During the testimony, one of the words that came to mind from my medical training was the word “paternalism”. As a medical student, I would overhear these conversations at other tables among more senior practitioners: “This 23-year-old is on her eighth pregnancy. I'm going to do a caesarean.” “Why don't you just ask her if she wants a tubal when you do that?” More often than not they would be indigenous, but basically they would be people who were poor. Again, indigenous people are overrepresented among those in poverty.
I think I know the answer to this question, but if someone is in this situation and she's about to go in for a caesarean and the doctor says, “We're going in. Since I'm in there anyway, and you already have eight kids, do you want a tubal ligation?” would you call that being coerced?
Dr. Bartlett, I see you nodding your head.