Virginia lawmakers approved a measure Thursday to compensate people forcibly sterilized under a eugenics program that was in place for much of the 20th century.

More than 8,000 Virginians underwent procedures between the 1920s and 1970s as part of a movement that sought to improve the genetic makeup of humankind by preventing those considered "defective" from reproducing. Scientists have now discredited eugenics as a flawed theory that has been misused for political purposes.

Under the measure, which is now being considered by Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe, at least 11 survivors from Virginia are to be awarded $25,000 each in compensation. Many view the measure as formal acknowledgment of the injustice inherent in the program.

"I think its a recognition when we do something wrong we need to fix it as a government, Reuters quoted Delegate Patrick Hope (D) as saying. "Now we can close this final chapter and healing can begin.

In 2002 Mark Warner, then governor of Virginia, issued a formal apology for the states decision to forcibly sterilize thousands of its residents.

However, the battle for compensation wasnt launched until about a decade later. Delegate Benjamin Cline, a conservative Republican from Rockbridge County, and Delegate Hope, a liberal Democrat from Arlington County, introduced the bipartisan bill to compensate the victims.

"There was a growing consensus that we needed to act while we still had the opportunity to look these people in the eye and acknowledge the wrong that was committed against them so many years ago," Delegate Cline said, according to the Associated Press.

Although Cline says that no amount of money is sufficient to right the wrong that was committed, he sees Thursdays move as symbolic.

Some of the victims said the news was welcome.

"I think they done me wrong," Lewis Reynolds, one of the men forcibly sterilized, told AP. "I couldn't have a family like everybody else does. They took my rights away.

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Virginia to compensate victims of state's forced sterilization program (+video)

RICHMOND The Virginia General Assembly has agreed to compensate individuals who were forcibly sterilized under the 20th-century practice of eugenics.

A budget passed by both chambers Thursday, and awaiting the governors signature, sets aside $400,000 or $25,000 for each victim or his or her estate.

The appropriation, championed this year by Del. Benjamin L. Cline (R-Rockbridge), makes Virginia the second state to take such action among more than 30 that forcibly sterilized residents. North Carolina was the first.

Im very pleased weve finally taken this necessary step towards acknowledging the wrongdoing that was done by the state, Cline said. When someone is denied the ability to have a family, thats a tragedy, but when its denied to them by their government, that is a scandal and a wrong that needs to be made right.

Gov. Terry McAuliffes spokesman, Brian Coy, declined to say whether the governor favors compensation. While running for office, McAuliffe (D) said he supported the formal apology offered by Virginia for eugenics, but he did not take a position on payouts.

The Virginia Eugenical Sterilization Act, signed into law on March 20, 1924, declared that heredity plays an important part in the transmission of insanity, idiocy, imbecility, epilepsy, and crime.

The law had the blessing of doctors and scientists at the University of Virginia and elsewhere. Under its provisions, people who were confined to state institutions because of mental illness, mental retardation or epilepsy could be sterilized as a benefit both to themselves and society.

More than 7,000 Virginians were sterilized between 1924 and 1979. Officials know of 11 victims who are still alive.

One of them is E. Lewis Reynolds, a Marine veteran from Lynchburg who was forcibly sterilized at the Central Virginia Training Center.

I thank you all very much, more than youll ever know, he said Friday during a news conference in Richmond.

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Va. General Assembly agrees to compensate eugenics victims

Virginia is to pay survivors of a forced sterilisation programme $25,000 (22,300) each in compensation under a measure approved by the US state's legislature.

Virginia forcibly sterilised those it viewed as social misfits or mentally deficient, among others, from the mid-1920s to the mid-1970s,when the programmeofficially ended.

More than 8,000 people were sterilised.

Only about 11 people who underwent sterilisation are known to be still alive, and the fund totals $400,000.

"I think it's a recognition when we do something wrong we need to fix it as a government," said Delegate Patrick Hope, a Democrat from northern Virginia's Arlington County.

"Now we can close this final chapter and healing can begin."

Mr Hope said that if other sterilisation victims came forward, they would need to be compensated.

He said the state's eugenics programme was the model used by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler aimed at creating a master race.

The eugenics movement claimed to improve human genetic features through selective breeding and sterilisation.

North Carolina was the first US state to compensate victims for forced sterilisations, setting aside $10 million as compensation in 2013.

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Virginia in forced sterilisation payout

RICHMOND, Va. Lewis Reynolds didn't understand what had been done to him when he was 13.

Years later, after getting married, the Lynchburg man discovered he couldn't father children. The reason: He had been sterilized by the state.

Reynolds was among more than 7,000 Virginians involuntarily sterilized between 1924 and 1979 under the Virginia Eugenical Sterilization Act.

Advocates for the surviving victims won a three-year fight Thursday when the Virginia General Assembly budgeted $400,000 to compensate them at the rate of $25,000 each.

It's welcome news, Reynolds said.

"I think they done me wrong," he said. "I couldn't have a family like everybody else does. They took my rights away."

Eugenics is the now-discredited movement that sought to improve the genetic composition of humankind by preventing those considered "defective" from reproducing. Virginia's Sterilization Act became a model for similar legislation passed around the country and the world, including Nazi Germany. Nationwide, 65,000 Americans were sterilized in 33 states, including more than 20,000 in California alone, said Mark Bold, executive director of the Christian Law Institute, which has been advocating the cause of the Virginia victims since 2013.

Virginia is the second state to approve compensation for victims of the eugenics program. North Carolina approved payments of $50,000 for each victim in 2013.

But the money from the state comes too late for most of those who were sterilized in Virginia, Bold said. There are only 11 known surviving victims, he said. Two have died in the past year, he said. Those who are left greeted the news with tears and hugs, Bold said.

The Virginia sterilizations were performed at six state institutions, including what is now known as Central Virginia Training Center in Lynchburg. When Reynolds was sterilized there, it was called the Virginia Colony for the Epileptic and Feeble Minded.

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Former Marine among sterilization victims getting compensation from Virginia

Published: Friday, February 13, 2015, 12:01 a.m.

After the horrible news recently about a Lake Stevens couple who allegedly abandoned their children in filthy conditions, several people on our Facebook page suggested they were prime candidates for sterilization. So we were curious: Would people really want the government to have the power to sterilize people who commit crimes against their children?

We asked that question in our unscientific poll at HeraldNet.com and the response was positively Orwellian. A resounding 68 percent said yes.

Now, I'm sure we all remember the 1920s and 30s when Washington laws authorized forced sterilization. Eugenics were all the rage in the Roaring 20s, and the prevailing opinion was that mentally ill and feeble-minded people should be weeded out of the gene pool. Almost all of those sterilized were women because, hey, this was the 1920s. State law also allowed sterilization as punishment for certain crimes, but enforcement of that was spotty.

This went on for a couple of decades in our state, where at least 685 people were sterilized, according to a University of Vermont study. Thousands more were sterilized under similar laws across the country.

The Supreme Court eventually addressed this in 1942 when a vasectomy was Oklahoma's prescribed punishment for a chicken thief. Cooler heads prevailed, the scalpel went back in the drawer, and the court's ruling all but ended forced sterilization as punishment. Meanwhile, eugenics fell out of favor thanks to the Nazis. Now you can only find that kind of government power in an authoritarian paradise such as Uzbekistan.

Hopefully we can chalk that 68 percent yes' vote in our poll up to knee-jerk emotion. Yes, the prospect of those people continuing to produce more children is scary, but history says the government can be even scarier.

Doug Parry, Herald Web editor: dparry@heraldnet.com

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Sterilization: When justice is just a snip away

February 25, 2015 9:24 PM Share with others:

By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A proposal to set up a memo of understanding with Planned Parenthood for sex education of middle school students won approval tonight from the board of Pittsburgh Public Schools.

The 6-1 vote came after board member Mark Brentley Sr. raised opposition, criticizing the history of Planned Parenthood, questioning what its role would be in the schools and saying it would put students at risk. Only Mr. Brentley voted in opposition. Members Terry Kennedy and Sherry Hazuda were absent.

Board president Thomas Sumpter said that history included eugenics, but he said board members needed to consider whether it was offering a good program for students today.

Dara Ware Allen, assistant superintendent for student support services, said she has reviewed all 24 modules -- 12 for grade 7 and 12 for grade 8 -- and said they addressed helping students to identify risky behavior, setting personal boundaries and practicing skills to avoid risky behavior.

She said that abortion is not part of the curriculum, that the curriculum emphasizes abstinence and that it is in keeping with the district's program. Parents can opt their children out of the program, which would be taught alongside the classroom teacher.

Ms. Allen said Planned Parenthood is seeking a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for the program. It is expected the organization will know whether it got the grant in July.

Mr. Brentley said other providers, including those at local universities with medical backgrounds, should have been considered.

Ms. Allen said UPMC is a "significant partner" and said there is a partnership with UPMC Shadyside for a teen pregnancy prevention program for high school students.

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Pittsburgh schools board approves Planned Parenthood role for sex education

Children conceived after mitochondrial donation would have nuclear DNA determining individual traits such as facial features and personality from its two parents, plus a tiny amount of mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) from an anonymous woman donor. Photograph: Getty Images

The UK has become the first country in the world to legalise the creation of IVF babies using DNA from three people.

The first baby conceived after mitochondrial donation techniques may be born as early as next year after peers in the House of Lords voted against a move to block a planned law change by 280 votes to 48, a majority of 232.

Research has shown that mitochondrial donation could potentially help almost 2,500 women of reproductive age in the UK who are at risk of transmitting harmful DNA mutations in the mitochondria.

But opponents, including church leaders and pro-life groups, have warned that the change has been brought about too hastily and marked the start of a slippery slope towards designer babies and eugenics.

On Tuesday night peers rejected an attempt to delay the legislation by Tory former cabinet minister John Gummer, now Lord Deben, before voting overwhelmingly in favour of the change to the law after several hours of debate.

The move to amend the 2008 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, which forbids IVF treatments that affect inherited germline DNA in eggs and sperm, was carried by 382 votes to 128 in the Commons earlier this month.

Mitochondrial disease

Prime minister David Cameron, Labour leader Ed Miliband and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg exercised their free vote to support the decision.

A department of health spokeswoman said: Parliaments decision will bring hope to hundreds of families affected by mitochondrial disease. We are proud to be the first country to allow these revolutionary techniques. For the first time ever, women who carry severe mitochondrial disease will have the opportunity to have healthy babies without the fear of passing on devastating genetic disorders.

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Creating IVF babies with DNA of three people legalised in UK

Lord Deben called for a delay and asked peers to form a committee to look at the safety and legality of the procedure.

He warned that children born from the technique could be sterile and argued that the majority of the public did not agree with the procedure.

"We have to protect three sets of people, the families, the children and the wider society," he told the House of Lords.

We should be concerned about the children who would be born in these circumstances. There are real doubts about safety.

Former Attorney General Baroness Scotland also said the legislation had been rushed through and argued that neither the current Attorney General Jeremy Wright nor the Lord Chancellor supported the new law.

"This matter is not easy, it's complex. Why the haste?" she added.

Baroness Hollins, chair of the British Medical Association's Science Committee also said she could not support the new legislation while Baroness O'Loan warned that many more egg donors would be needed for the procedure whihc would place women at risk of complications from hyperstimulation.

However Lord Howe said mitochondrial replacement could 'give real hope to families.'

"It would be cruel and perverse to deny them that opportunity for any longer than necessary," he added.

Lord Winston, one of Britain's leading fertility experts, also backed the law.

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Three-parent babies: House of Lords approves law despite fears children could be born sterile

The UK has become the first country in the world to legalise the creation of IVF babies using DNA from three people.

The first baby conceived after mitochondrial donation techniques may be born as early as next year after peers in the House of Lords voted against a move to block a planned legislation change by 280 votes to 48, a majority of 232.

Research has shown that mitochondrial donation could potentially help almost 2,500 women of reproductive age in the UK who are at risk of transmitting harmful DNA mutations in the mitochondria.

But opponents, including church leaders and pro-life groups, have warned that the change has been brought about too hastily and marked the start of a slippery slope towards designer babies and eugenics.

Last night the Lords rejected an attempt to delay the legislation by Tory former cabinet minister John Gummer, before voting overwhelmingly in favour of the change to the law after several hours of debate.

The move to amend the 2008 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, which forbids IVF treatments that affect inherited germline DNA in eggs and sperm, was carried by some 382 votes to 128 in the Commons earlier this month.

Prime Minister David Cameron, Labour leader Ed Miliband, and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg all exercised their free vote to support the decision.

A spokeswoman for the department of health said: ``Parliaments decision will bring hope to hundreds of families affected by mitochondrial disease.

We are proud to be the first country to allow these revolutionary techniques. For the first time ever, women who carry severe mitochondrial disease will have the opportunity to have healthy babies without the fear of passing on devastating genetic disorders.

Irish Examiner Ltd. All rights reserved

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UK is the first country to legalise triple-DNA babies

The UK has become the first country in the world to legalise the creation of IVF babies using DNA from three people.

The first baby conceived after mitochondrial donation techniques may be born as early as next year.

It comes after peers in the House of Lords voted against a move to block a planned law change by 280 votes to 48, a majority of 232.

Research has shown that mitochondrial donation could potentially help almost 2,500 women of reproductive age in the UK who are at risk of transmitting harmful DNA mutations in the mitochondria.

But opponents, including church leaders and pro-life groups, have warned that the change has been brought about too hastily and marked the start of a "slippery slope" towards designer babies and eugenics.

Tonight the Lords rejected an attempt to delay the legislation before voting overwhelmingly in favour of the change to the law after several hours of debate.

The move to amend the 2008 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, which forbids IVF treatments that affect inherited "germ line" DNA in eggs and sperm, was carried by 382 votes to 128 in the Commons earlier this month.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, Labour leader Ed Miliband and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg exercised their free vote to support the decision.

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UK legalises 'three-person' babies

Amy and Robert Pollack have collaborated on many projects over their 53-year marriage. Amy, an artist, has often provided the frontispieces for her husbands books. Robert, a professor of biological sciences who leads the Center for the Study of Science and Religion and was dean of Columbia College from 1982-89, has often used his wifes drawings for his Frontiers of Science course in the Core Curriculum.

Amy and Robert Pollack liken their book, The Course of Nature, to a graphic novel.

So it was natural that when Robert was asked to provide a companion text for a required course on Darwin for freshmen at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J., he selected his wife to provide the sketches. Titled The Course of Nature: A Book of Drawings on Natural Selection and Its Consequences, the joint project tackles big questions in a slim, 113-page volume.

How many atoms are there in one of the hundred thousand billion cells that make up one person? How probable is it that one persons genome would ever arise again by random processes? (The first answer is 1 million billion. The next is to the 3 billionth power.) These are but a few of the questions raised in the book, which the Pollacks describe as something akin to a graphic novel.

Graphic novels are a very powerful way to convey feeling as well as meaning, Robert said, noting that Roz Chasts book about her parents final years, Cant We Talk About Something More Pleasant?: A Memoir, is closer in its approach to their book than any science textbook. You bring your imagination to graphic novels, adds Amy. There isnt just one interpretation.

The chapters in The Course of Nature explain everything from Lucretius view of atoms to Einsteins space-time continuum, Mendels peapods, the scandal of eugenics, global warming, and Watson and Cricks DNA double helix. Regarding the discovery of the structure of DNA, Robert said, There has never been in our lifetime an idea of equal magnitude. E=mc2 [Einsteins statement that matter and energy are manifestations of the same underlying reality] comes close, but not in terms of how we understand life.

Visual metaphors abound. Apple peels, vines and Russian nested dolls help explain the biosphere, the structure of DNA and the common origin of all life on Earth. The authors show that if the age of the universe13.7 billion yearswere a set of 30 books, the period at the end of the last sentence of the last volume would mark the era of modern science, which is just the past few hundred years.

Robert says he came up with the idea for the book when the dean of the College of Arts and Letters at Stevens asked him to prepare a text that could reach first-year students who dont intend to pursue a scientific career, and for whom traditional lectures and data-filled PowerPoints dont work.

Chapters are short: An explanation of how DNA works is two pages long, starting with the succinct sentence, DNA is a text. It then goes on to explain that DNA encodes genetic information much as a sentence encodes meaning using letters and typographical symbols. On the facing page, Amy expresses the scientific principle in a series of drawings of cats that illustrate how different sequences of the four-letter alphabet of DNA base-pairs produce different results.

Amy, who earned a B.F.A. from The Cooper Union and a B.A. from Brandeis, has worked over her long artistic career in a variety of media, including drawings, woodcuts, quilts, posters, soft sculpture, papier-mch and paintings. In addition to a one-person show at Columbia University Medical Center, she has contributed to group shows in galleries in New York City, in Bridgehampton and Sag Harbor on Long Island, and at the Whipple Museum of the History of Science in Cambridge, England, among others.

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Couple Illustrates the Marvels of Science

By Rick FeneleyFeb. 23, 2015, 3:05 p.m.

Down on the Block in Redfern, theyre calling it an act of social cleansing the eviction of Aboriginal people. But they will be evicted on the orders of other Aboriginal people.

The site of the Aboriginal tent embassy at the Block in Redfern. Photo: Nick Moir

The Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy has been issued an eviction notice by the Aboriginal Houncil Corporation. Pic Nick Moir 23 feb 2015 Photo: Nick Moir

Redfern elders Debbie Bell , Kay Hookey and Jenny Hodge. Photo: Nick Moir

An artist's impression of the Pemulwuy project.

Down on the Block in Redfern, they're calling it an act of "social cleansing" the eviction of Aboriginal people. But they will be evicted on the orders of other Aboriginal people.

Michael Mundine, chief executive officer of the Aboriginal Housing Company, says he will initiate the removal of the Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy erected on Sorry Day in May last year if its members do not go voluntarily on Monday.

"They're on Aboriginal Housing Company Land," Mr Mundine told Fairfax Media. "It is private land and they're trespassing."

"It's not Micky Mundine's land," says elder Cecil Bowden. "He reckons he owns it but he doesn't. Gough Whitlam gave it to Aboriginal people."

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Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Redfern: We'll evict them from the block says Aboriginal housing boss Mick Mundine

My thoughts on racism... role of TV, Islam, Eugenics and ignorance...

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Chemtrails Geoengineering Eugenics Louisiana World War III
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Chemtrails Geoengineering Eugenics Louisiana World War III - Video

Episode 19 (Taxes, Welfare, Eugenics, and Education)
Also available on iTunes and http://fleetingthoughts.libsyn.com/. Hello, and welcome to the Fleeting Thoughts podcast hosted by Joe Gray and Channing Cornwal...

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Episode 19 (Taxes, Welfare, Eugenics, and Education) - Video

Phase II Eugenics Spy Planes Hackng truth web sites NEW WORLD ORDER
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By: Frederick Wst Jr.

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EUGENICS - LIVE DRUM CAM

By: Nezar Eugenics

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EUGENICS - LIVE DRUM CAM - Video

RE: Underground Virginia: Eugenics
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCls5SC_slKk3sIGxE9D_qJQ Original Video: http://youtu.be/UrtJwMtzVvE.

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All Falls Down - Eugenics (Shameless But Tolerated)
Eugenics (Shameless But Tolerated) by All Falls Down from the album Split EP Released 2011-06-24 on Unundeux sterreichs Metal ist eine berschaubare, aber i...

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Introductory Remarks: Eugenics and Other Evils by G.K. Chesterton
The Kingfisher Reeds...Eugenics and Other Evils by G.K. Chesterton.

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