By Dana Wilson

Elena Gorolova was 21 when she went into the hospital for the birth of her second child. Labor was long, and the doctor ended up inducing. When on the table a decision was made for a cesarean section as the umbilical chord started to protrude. 

"At that moment, when all these things were happening around me, many doctors were around me, at that moment they brought a paper where I was supposed to write the name of a boy and a girl. 

I signed the paper and then they brought another paper, where I was supposed to sign for the sterilization. They told me, 'Here, sign this. You must do so.'  They said the word sterilization, but I did not understand what that was.

In the operating room I remember that I was very cold there… I was in total shock because of it all and I was just looking forward to when the entire ordeal would be over. Then I fell asleep and did not know anything afterwards, and awoke in some other room. The nurses came, and… I asked them what it was and they told me I had a boy.

The nurses then came into the room and told me that my husband was there and that there was a big commotion concerning the sterilization and so on. I didn't register it so… I asked [the doctor] if anything was done to me.

He said: 'Yes, you were sterilized. You will no longer have any children.'

'I asked him, 'What does that mean?'

'You will no longer have any children.'

Which is when I burst out crying.

I couldn't speak to them any further."

This piece is from the transcripts of Trial of a Child Denied (www.trialofachilddenied.org ) 

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