Res 0623-2026

Res. No. 623 Resolution calling on the New York State Legislature to pass, and the Governor to sign, S.3357/A.1582, to prohibit health care providers from performing procedures resulting in sterilization without the informed consent of the person being sterilized By Council Members Hanif and Brewer Whereas, Sterilization refers to permanent medical procedures that end a person’s ability to reproduce: the United States (U.S.) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identifies tubal surgery and vasectomy as methods of permanent contraception that are intended to be irreversible, and the Merck Manual notes that hysterectomy, though usually performed to treat a medical condition rather than for contraception, independently results in sterility; and Whereas, Because sterilization is permanent, medical and bioethics literature recognizes that the procedure necessitates informed consent as a critical safeguard, and identifies people who are dependent on state or government-provided healthcare as being at particular risk of forced sterilization without such consent; and Whereas, Yet, current New York State (“NYS” or “State”) law permits a court to authorize the sterilization of a person found unable to consent at the request of a guardian, healthcare proxy, or other third party, without that person’s own agreement: Mental Hygiene Law § 81.22(a)(8) grants a guardian appointed under Article 81 of that law the power to consent to or refuse “generally accepted routine or major medical” treatment on a ward’s behalf, and, as early as 1976, a Queens County court relied on this kind of authority to grant a petition allowing a guardian to consent to the sterilization of a person found incompetent to consent themself; and Whereas, This substituted-consent framework has its roots in the early twentieth century eugenics movement, which held that people with disabilities, along with people of color, people who are incarcerated, and people living in poverty, were “unfit” to reproduce, and which led to the forced sterilization of an estimated 70,000 people nationwide under the authority of the 1927 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Buck v. Bell, a ruling that has never been expressly overturned; and Whereas, NYS has a direct historical connection to this movement: the Eugenics Record Office, which operated from 1910 to 1939 in Cold Spring Harbor, drafted the “model” eugenical sterilization law that more than 30 states relied on to enact their own forced sterilization statutes, and the American Museum of Natural History in New York City (NYC) hosted the Second and Third International Eugenics Congresses in 1921 and 1932, giving the movement’s ideas a national and international stage; and Whereas, Many families living in NYS use Article 17-A of the Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act to obtain guardianship over relatives with intellectual or developmental disabilities, a plenary form of guardianship that, by design, is not tailored to the individual and can encompass nearly every area of a ward’s life, in contrast to Article 81 of the Mental Hygiene Law, which is intended to give the courts the ability to tailor a guardian’s powers to the specific needs of the individual and preserve as much of the individual’s independence and self-determination as possible; and Whereas, Disability Rights New York has challenged Article 17-A’s constitutionality twice; both times the challenges were dismissed on procedural grounds, leaving the law intact; and Whereas, Nearly one in six NYC residents live with disability, and those residents are disproportionately reliant on public healthcare through Medicaid and NYC Health + Hospitals, making them at particular risk of coercive sterilization under current law that permits substituted consent; and Whereas, S.3357/A.1582, sponsored by State Senator Gustavo Rivera and State Assembly Member Jessica González-Rojas, respectively, would amend the Public Health Law to close this loophole by prohibiting health care providers from performing procedures resulting in sterilization without the informed consent of the person being sterilized, and to bar substituted consent by a guardian, health care proxy, or other third party from authorizing such procedures; and Whereas, The amendment would not apply to sterilization procedures necessary to preserve an individual’s life or prevent serious impairment to their physical health; and Whereas, It would establish that a person with a disability may voluntarily, and without undue influence or coercion, enter into a supported decision-making agreement when considering a sterilization procedure which would authorize a supporter to help the person with a disability understand the nature, risks, and alternatives to sterilization, access relevant information, and communicate their choice of a healthcare provider, without the supporter making the decision on the person’s behalf; and Whereas, The amendment would require health care providers to provide the information and accommodations a person with a disability needs to understand a sterilization procedure to make their own decision free of pressure or coercion, would bar a provider from performing sterilization if they believe the person lacks capacity to consent even with such supports, and would prohibit a provider from presuming a lack of capacity based solely on disability, diagnosis, use of supported decision-making, or guardianship status; and Whereas, Every human being, regardless of disability status, is entitled to dignity and the freedom to make fundamental decisions about their own body and family; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls on the New York State Legislature to pass, and the Governor to sign, S.3357/A.1582, to prohibit health care providers from performing procedures resulting in sterilization without the informed consent of the person being sterilized. CGR LS #24727 07/16/2026 6:58 PM