The US state of California is preparing to pay compensation to hundreds of people who have been sterilized on the grounds that they are not fit to have children.
The decision to pay compensation to sterilization victims in California was approved by the State Assembly.
According to the decision, which will take effect after the approval of Gavin Newsom, California will become “the third state to pay compensation to victims of forced sterilization that has affected people as young as 13”, after Virginia and Carolina. of the North.
Forced sterilization in California dates back to 1909, while official figures show that more than 20,000 people were victims of this practice.
Under the ruling, compensation will be paid to inmates who have been forcibly sterilized in prisons, while U.S. human rights activists say about 600 surviving sterilization victims could benefit from the compensation.
The Eugenics Movement
Under a law passed in California in 2014, sterilization for birth control purposes was banned in prisons, but sterilization continued “for health reasons.”
When the eugenics movement peaked in the 1930s, its followers believed that a superior human race could be achieved by sterilizing people with mental illness, physical disability, and other undesirable characteristics.
