Sterilization Victims Wait for Compensation

There are around 2,000 people living today who are victims of eugenics, a scientific theory popularized in the 1920s that promoted sterilization as a solution for problematic traits such as poverty, alcoholism, and promiscuity. Between 1929 and 1974, 85 percent of those sterilized as part of the eugenics experiment were girls and women, some as young as 9 years old. The state of North Carolina, which was responsible for the majority of all eugenics sterilizations in the United States, has promised to compensate these victims both financially and with mental-health services. So far, though, no reparations have been paid.