California Giving Reparations To Victims Of Forced Sterilization

California is set to pay reparations to the victims of eugenics, which is a practice that determined that certain people, including those with mental illness or disabilities, shouldn’t be allowed to reproduce due to “undesirable traits.”

Once approved, the state will give about $25,000 to the survivors who experienced sterilization, as first reported by The Associated Press.

Insider‘s Sarah Al-Arshani previously reported, “the first eugenics sterilization law stems back to Indiana in 1907 and expanded to 30 states including California.”

The AP reported, “the state initiated its program in 1909.” According to their report, payments will also be given to women who were sterilized in California prisons.

The state prison system forced the sterilization of more than 1,000 woman inmates, mostly Black, during the years between 1997 to 2004.

“We must address and face our horrific history. This isn’t something that just happened in the past,” Lorena Garcia Zermeño of California Latinas for Reproductive Justice told the Associated Press.

According to Reuters, a similar amount was given to sterilization victims in Virginia back in 2015 and North Carolina two years before.