Virginia Espino, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and an expert in reproductive injustice, said it’s unclear how many women were sterilized at the LAC-USC Medical Center. The lawyer for the women who brought the lawsuit estimated "hundreds.”
Many didn’t speak fluent English and didn’t understand the forms they signed and, in some cases, were coerced into signing. Many had labor complications and were told lies that they or their babies would die if they didn't sign.