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As part of the vile eugenics movement that swept the country during the first half of the 20th century, more than 60,000 women and men were sterilized in state homes and hospitals to prevent them from passing on what were considered defective genes.
Laws in 32 states allowed sterilizations to be performed at state-run institutions on people deemed “feeble minded” or mentally ill or even, in some cases, sexually promiscuous. However, nowhere was eugenics more aggressively practiced than in California. About 20,000 people in California were sterilized, mostly between 1920 and 1960, although the state law was in effect from 1909 to 1979. Most were forced or coerced. All were in the care of the state at the time. In some cases, hospitals made sterilization a condition for discharge. This newspaper’s publisher for much of the first half of the 20th century was a supporter of eugenics, and a regular column ran in the paper extolling its virtues.
Former Gov. Gray Davis issued a public apology for the practice in 2003. Apologies were issued in six other states as well. But is that enough? A recent paper published in the American...
