The North Carolina legislature has recommended that surviving victims of the State’s forced sterilization program be paid US$50,000 each.

The North Carolina legislature has recommended that surviving victims of the State’s forced sterilization program be paid US$50,000 each. About 7,600 people were sterilized between 1929 and 1974 in North Carolina to prevent the feckless poor and the mentally handicapped from bearing children. About 2,000 are still alive. In the YouTube video above Elaine Riddick laments her experience. She was sterilized at 14 when she gave birth after being raped.

In a 1950 pamphlet, the Human Betterment League of North Carolina said that the program was necessary to protect “the children of future generations and the community at large.” “You wouldn’t expect a moron to run a train or a feebleminded woman to teach school,” it said. ~ Los Angeles Times, Jan 25

Michael Cook
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eugenics
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Michael Cook

Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.

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