Austria accused over sterilisation

Vienna - Revelations that Swedish women suffered forced sterilisation for 40 years have outraged the world, but mentally-handicapped people in Austria are still being sterilised, usually against their will, rights groups said yesterday. "Around 70 per cent of mentally-handicapped women are still sterilised in Austria, and that happens mostly against their will," the Green Party spokeswoman on health, Ms Theresia Haidlmayr, said, noting that no official statistics were available.