Sterilized follows the journeys of young women who have made a radical decision - to remove their tubes so they can never have children. The film explores autonomy, fear, and who gets to decide what a woman’s life should look like.
SYNOPSIS
The overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 marked a profound shift in reproductive rights in the US. In the years since, a growing number of young, childfree women have started seeking permanent sterilization procedures. These young women feel under attack by laws that limit their reproductive freedom and personal choices. Desperate to maintain bodily autonomy, they defy social norms and take back their agency.
The reasons behind this increase are varied and deeply personal, and are unfolding alongside broader shifts in attitudes toward parenthood, with birth rates at historic lows and growing numbers of Gen Zers and Millennials reporting that they do not want children. At the same time, as abortion access becomes increasingly restricted, the prospect of an unwanted pregnancy carries different stakes than it once did. What happens if birth control fails? What options still remain?
Sterilized is an intimate, observational film that follows women as they move through one of the most consequential decisions of their lives.
While many films have focused on the immediate political aftermath of Roe’s fall, Sterilized examines its longer term consequences - how the erosion of reproductive rights is reshaping not only access to care, but the decisions women make about their bodies and their futures.
ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)
Yasmeen Griffiths
Yasmeen Griffiths is an award-winning executive producer and director who has been creating impactful documentary content for over 17 years. She created and directed the documentary series States of America for USA TODAY, which won a Peabody Award and Edward R. Murrow in 2023. Yasmeen has overseen and produced documentaries and news magazine segments for many leading networks and brands including PBS, USA TODAY, Al Jazeera English, and CNN International. Yasmeen is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and leads Psi Productions, a women and minority owned production company. She is driven to empower audiences through compelling storytelling.
Mona Iskander
Mona Iskander is an award-winning director and producer of long-form documentaries. Her work has appeared on Netflix, CNN, MSNBC, History Channel, PBS, NPR and more. She is currently producing a feature-length film called The Good Life, about creative aging. In 2023, she won a Peabody award for a film she produced about the maternal health crisis in post-Roe Mississippi. In addition to her work as a producer and correspondent, Mona is a founding member of the Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association (AMEJA) She is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and Boston University. She lives in New York.
Rajal Pitroda is a producer of fiction and non-fiction films. She is a Women at Sundance Fellow, Impact Partners Producers Fellow, Film Independent Documentary Producing Lab Fellow, and Sundance Creative Producing Fellow. Rajal’s recent credits include “The Gas Station Attendant,” winner of a Special Mention Grand Jury Prize at the 2025 Sheffield DocFest, the award winning documentary short “A Shot at History,” which premiered at the 2024 Double Exposure Film Festival, “Southern Fried Lies” which premiered on Peacock in April 2025, and “Down a Dark Stairwell,” which premiered at the 2020 True/False Film Festival and was broadcast on Independent Lens. Rajal’s work has been supported by Chicken & Egg Films, the Tribeca Film Institute, SFFILM, Black Public Media, Firelight Media and others. Prior to producing, Rajal was the Founder and CEO of Cinevention, a media company focused on marketing and distribution, where she designed and executed distribution strategies for feature films. Rajal started her career working in international marketing for Indian movies based in Mumbai. She has a degree in Economics from the University of Michigan and an MBA from London Business School.
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