Eugenics Act victims compensated 16,000

THE US state of Virginia agreed on Thursday to compensate victims who were forcibly sterilised by state officials decades ago under a eugenics programme.

Survivors won their three-year fight when the Virginia General Assembly budgeted $400,000 (258,000) to compensate them at the rate of $25,000 (16,000) each.

It was welcome news for 87-year-old Lewis Reynolds, who was among more than 7,000 Virginians forcibly sterilised between 1924 and 1979 under the barbaric provisions of the Virginia Eugenical Sterilisation Act.

I think they done me wrong, he said. I couldnt have a family like everybody else does. They took my rights away.

Eugenics was a deeply reactionary movement that sought to improve the genetic composition of the human race by preventing those considered defective from reproducing.

Virginias Sterilisation Act became a model for similar legislation around the country and the world, including nazi Germany.

Nationwide, 65,000 US citizens were sterilised in 33 US states, including more than 20,000 in California alone, said Christian Law Institute executive director Mark Bold, whose organisation has been pressing the case of the Virginia victims since 2013.

Virginia is only the second state to approve compensation for victims of the eugenics programme.

North Carolina approved payments of $50,000 (32,000) for each victim in 2013.

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Morning Star :: Virginia pays up for forced sterilisation