PBS News Weekend

Women who allege they were sterilized without their consent may finally get their day in court. For more than two decades, thousands of Peruvian women - many indigenous, poor and uneducated - have been seeking justice, alleging they were sterilized against their will in the 1990s under an aggressive population control campaign carried out by the government of former President Alberto Fujimori. From 1996 to 2000, Peru's government provided millions of contraceptive items and 280,000 tubal ligations were performed. Almost from the start, however, reports of aggressive government sterilization quotas and lack of women's consent began to emerge. But in October, criminal charges were filed against Fujimori and several of his former health ministers giving some hope that they'll get their day in court. NewsHour Weekend Special Correspondent Kira Kay reports.