Nervous wait for sterilisation report PARENTS of daughters with disabilities are nervously awaiting the release of a parliamentary inquiry into forced sterilisation practices. For 10 months senators on a community affairs committee have been weighing up human rights issues and the challenges faced by carers while investigating reports some girls with disabilities are being sterilised without informed consent. It's unclear how widespread the practice is because official figures are unreliable and some cases may slip under the radar. Scores of parents wrote emotional submissions to the inquiry supporting sterilisation on a case-by-case basis. Many fear daughters being raped and falling pregnant or talked about the difficulties coping with their menstruation. The Australian Human Rights Commission says children with disabilities as young as 10 have been sterilised. It wants the sterilisation of children criminalised as well as cases involving adults in the absence of informed and free consent. It tells of a 34-year-old woman named Bella who has a mild intellectual disability and is still dealing with the anger of being sterilised without consent. At 12 her parents told her she was going to have her appendix removed but doctors took out her uterus. Now she feels robbed of the chance to be a mother. In Australia, parents and guardians must apply to the Family Court for permission for non-therapeutic sterilisation procedures to be performed on children. Australian doctors can be charged with medical assault if found guilty of performing illegal sterilisations. The report will be released on Wednesday.