Against Their Will: North Carolina's Sterilization Program

[polarpixie]

It's crazy to think that this went on for 40 years.

http://againsttheirwill.journalnow.com/

Reporters for the Winston-Salem Journal have obtained sealed records and are lifting the curtain on a horrifying truth: From 1933-1974, five members of the North Carolina eugenics board met every month and voted to sterilize up to 30 complete strangers in the name of the "greater good." Eugenics was the controversial practice of weeding out undesirable genetics by forced sterilization. Most of those sterilized were poor, illiterate, hypersexual, homosexual, promiscuous, or lazy -- characteristics deemed "undesirable." By the program's end, 7,600 people had been sterilized against their will. About 60% were black, and 99% were female, including Elaine Riddick Jessie, who shares her traumatic story. Some board members admit to battling a crisis of conscience but say it was difficult to vote against the tide of prevailing ideas and the support of North Carolina's medical and political elite. It's a story of a program that began with high hopes and good intentions but quickly devolved into something tragic and troubling.

 

[Lumberg]

WTF?!?!?!?!?!!

LAWSUIT!

JC

 

[polarpixie]

It makes me wonder if anything like this could be or is taking place today and we don't even know about it.

 

[Big Johnson]

Disturbing.

 

[Norman Bates]

I can´t believe that was legal and i can´t believe anyone with a conscience is capable of that.
Everyone on that board should be in prison for life.

 

[BronzedGoddess]

Sadly, I'm not surprised.

 

[the nature boy]

It's not surprising that this happened in Jesse Helms state.

 

[JohnyJuice]

It makes me wonder if anything like this could be or is taking place today and we don't even know about it.

One can only hope.

 

[DigitalKyle]

Well, population control is needed, so we might as well breed "good" people.

 

[BronzedGoddess]

Well, population control is needed, so we might as well breed "good" people.

Wow, it's such a great honor to meet you God.

 

[the nature boy]

Well, population control is needed, so we might as well breed "good" people.

had you been born much earlier, you'd have made an excellent nazi.

 

[saint808]

that's fucked up.... but then no one would want to live in a world i ruled either, so...

 

[Ffactor]

How would you feel if India, Bangladesh and other third world countries, where they don't have the resources to feed people and thousands of women and children are dying every day due to malnutrition, adopted a mandatory streilization program?

 

[the nature boy]

How would you feel if India, Bangladesh and other third world countries, where they don't have the resources to feed people and thousands of women and children are dying every day due to malnutrition, adopted a mandatory streilization program?

that's a totally different scenario dude.

 

[john937]

Isn't this still done for instituionalized retarded people?
I remember something about Downs Syndrome women being sterilized cause they want to have sex with the other inmates.

 

[atlantabiolab]

The author's final sentence is as disturbing as the article itself.

It's a story of a program that began with high hopes and good intentions but quickly devolved into something tragic and troubling.

I truly fail to see how the concept of forced sterilization, no matter how deluded you are about it's benefit, is a good idea. Did we forget the idea of "the ends do not justify the means'? If someone can remove one of the most basic of individual rights, then what is to prohibit them from taking away all of your rights?

 

[spentagn]

My wife did a big research project on forced sterilization her senior year of high school. Seeing as how I got her pregnant at the age of 18, maybe there is some credence to it...

 

[gimp]

spend some time volunteering to help inner city children whose mother's are addicted to crack/meth , beat their kids to a pulp, leave them with no food for days on end,neglect every basic human need and see what kind of adults they grow up to be. You may not agree with eugenics, but you may end up with the belief that not every single human being has the right to breed as many children as they want.

 

[the nature boy]

spend some time volunteering to help inner city children whose mother's are addicted to crack/meth , beat their kids to a pulp, leave them with no food for days on end,neglect every basic human need and see what kind of adults they grow up to be. You may not agree with eugenics, but you may end up with the belief that not every single human being has the right to breed as many children as they want.

you have a point, but who is to decide? who should play god?

 

[gimp]

That' the problem with all laws...where do you draw the line? I don't agree with eugenics, but, what about men and women who are just terrible parents and raise their children so poorly that many of the kids, not all, some kids rise up from shitty backgrounds and do well,end up crazy in jail, etc.. I've worked in prisons and you won't find many inmates in there who had even remotely "normal" upbringings. That doesn't condone their crimes one bit, but maybe after some crazy abusive woman or man has mad too many "mistakes" maybe sterilization should be forced on them.

 

[Lumberg]

My wife did a big research project on forced sterilization her senior year of high school. Seeing as how I got her pregnant at the age of 18, maybe there is some credence to it...

LOL,,,,,,,,