Thank you for signing this petition to outlaw pelvic exams under anesthesia without consent in New Mexico. We are heartened at the rapid and massive response! We have over 50,000 signers in just two weeks! Please keep sharing so we can double that in the next week!
Some folks have asked for citations for the research we mentioned so we want to provide you that and tell you who we are. My name is A’magine and I am the director and producer of the forthcoming documentary film At Your Cervix. Our filmmaking team has been working on this film, documenting this issue, for over 15 years. I personally have interviewed hundreds of people about this issue and it is still prevalent. It is our goal to get laws passed in all 50 states. To date, only 20 states have laws banning this egregious practice. I can tell you that this long-standing practice happens all over the country and in other parts of the world in many different kinds of facilities, which makes it a systemic practice. Medical providers indoctrinated into the system of medicine often do not see it because it has been normalized and so woven into how they teach and learn.
Why New Mexico? Because I live here. In politics, we start locally and grow. Whether we are a state with one or only a few medical schools does not matter. If there is no law on the books, patients have no recourse if it happens to them (we share one such story in our film). To have a law specifically stating that pelvic exams under anesthesia must be consented to sends a strong message to all medical providers that doing exams on anesthetized patients with their consent is wrong. We have heard over and over from students like Shawn Barnes, who we also feature in the film, that informed consent is not talked about much in medical school or emphasized as important. We aim to change that.
Attorney and advocate, Robin Fretwell-Wilson, also in the film, has worked on this issue for two decades and is one of the primary people who has worked to get laws passed already in many states. Her articles are provided below. Connecticut just passed a law after a two-year battle this week with strong support from a change.org petition! We know this petition can make a huge impact!
We invite you to be a part of this journey with us. In the coming month we will be doing our inaugural virtual screening of At Your Cervix and we invite you to be there with us as we release this film and begin to use it as an advocacy tool to pass more laws in more states. You can join us by signing up at www.AtYourCervixMovie.com and see a trailer and several clips from the film there, including one from Shawn Barnes, who got a law passed in Hawaii after performing non-consensual exams on well over one hundred patients as a medical student for his own learning, and without them knowing.
Together we can create massive change and we thank you for caring enough to sign this petition and educate your friends about this issue. We look forward to working to make all 50 states places where patients can no longer have intimate exams while they are under anesthesia without their prior informed consent. In the current political landscape, this is as important as ever as we work for choice and consent on every level.
Warmly,
A’magine + the At Your Cervix Team
Citations for your further research:
Ubel, P. A., Jepson, C., & Silver-Isenstadt, A. (2003). Don't ask, don't tell: A change in medical student attitudes after obstetrics/gynecology clerkships toward seeking consent for pelvic examinations on an anesthetized patient. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 188(2), 575–579. https://doi.org/10.1067/mob.2003.85
Wilson, R. F. (2005). Autonomy suspended: Using female patients to teach intimate exams without their knowledge or consent. Journal of Health Care Law & Policy, 8(2), 240-263. http://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/jhclp/vol8/iss2/5
Barnes, S. S. (2012). Practicing pelvic examinations by medical students on women under anesthesia. Obstetrics & Gynecology, 120(4), 941–943. https://doi.org/10.1097/aog.0b013e3182677a28
Friesen, P. (2018). Educational pelvic exams on anesthetized women: Why consent matters. Bioethics, 32(5), 298–307. https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.12441
Friesen, P., Wilson, R. F., Kim, S., & Goedken, J. (2022). Consent for Intimate Exams on Unconscious Patients: Sharpening Legislative Efforts. Hastings Center Report, 52(1), 28–31. https://doi.org/10.1002/hast.1337