13/03/2026
⚠️ Did you know forced sterilisation of women and girls with disability is STILL legal in Australia?
🟠 Sterilisation is a medical procedure that permanently stops someone from being able to have children.
❌ This is not a medical choice, but a loss of a person’s bodily autonomy and human rights.
💔 There is a long history of women, girls and people with female biology being denied the right to decide about their own bodies.
🌍 The United Nations recognises forced sterilisation as a violation of human rights.
📝 For the past 20 years, international medical and human right bodies have urged Australia to ban it.
⚖️ Yet there is still no law in Australia that prohibits the forced sterilisation of women and girls (or men) with disability.
🗣️ This silence sends a dangerous message: that a disabled person's body is not their own.
✋ Laws should make sure that our bodies, rights and decisions belong to us.
📝 In December 2025, Community Bridging Services Inc (CBS) formally lodged a petition to the Australian Government to legislate an end to forced sterilisation practices in Australia.
🖋 The petition received the required signatures to make sure a Minister responds.
💬 There has been no response yet.
Hard words:
Body autonomy – having control over your own body and being able to make decisions about it
Violation – breaking someone’s rights or not respecting their rules or personal boundaries
Legislate – to make a law or set of rules that everyone must follow
Pic desc: A graphic of red, purple and pink fists raised up in the air on a light pink background.
