Emily Galpern // A Bill to Compensate Survivors of Eugenic Sterilization in California | Center for Genetics and Society

6.6.18

A Bill to Compensate Survivors of Eugenic Sterilization in California | Center for Genetics and Society: April 10 update: See a fact sheet on SB 1190, the Forced Sterilization Compensation Act, with a full list of supporting organizations.

California finally has the opportunity to right a wrong that has long gone unaddressed: introduced this legislative session, SB 1190 would compensate people who were involuntarily sterilized under eugenics laws that were on the state’s books for almost three-quarters of the twentieth century.

According to bill author Nancy Skinner, “We can never fully make up for California’s forced sterilizations—since so many who were hurt are no longer with us,” said Skinner. “But for those still alive, we can do better by finally providing restitution.”

In 1909, as the U.S. eugenics movement was gathering steam, California legislators passed a bill authorizing medical superintendents of state homes and hospitals to sterilize patients they deemed “unfit for reproduction.” California went on to administer the most active eugenic sterilization program in the nation, affecting more than 20,000 people, one-third of those sterilized under similar laws nationally. All were classified as people with disabilities. Women—and Latinas in particular—were sterilized at disproportionate rates. This law was not repealed until 1979.