RALEIGH, N.C. –

The legislator who led the fight to get compensation for victims of North Carolina’s sterilization program says he can’t describe how he feels now that a bill has been filed in the state House to provide those benefits.

Rep. Larry Womble says he’s elated that legislators filed a bill Wednesday recommending that victims receive $50,000 in compensation. Womble is a Forsyth County Democrat who has led the fight for compensation for more than 10 years.

But he’s not at the Legislature to see the bill filed. Instead, he’s at home in Winston-Salem, where he’s recovering from injuries suffered in a car wreck in December that killed another man. Womble hopes to return this session.

Womble signed the bill electronically from home.

Womble says he’s pleased the bill’s sponsors include Democrats, Republicans, blacks, whites, men and women.

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