美北卡州参院否决强制绝育赔偿方案
美国北卡罗莱纳州参议院周三否决了一项赔偿该州被强制绝育的受害人的方案。
该州众议院此前通过了给每名受害者赔偿5万美金的方案。
但一名共和党员州参议员表示，北卡罗莱纳州负担不起在州预算中加入这笔款项。
在1929年至1974年间，北卡罗莱纳州有大约7600人被迫接受强制绝育，其中大部分为贫穷的黑人女性。
据报道，1907年美国印第安纳州通过了美国第一部绝育法，规定政府有权对罪犯、智障人士或州专家委员会批准的其他人实施强制性绝育手术，随后30多个州也通过了有关法律。
报道称，北卡罗莱纳州引人注目之处是在于第二次世界大战之后仍然扩大强制性绝育计划。
一名支持赔偿方案的民主党议员表示：“我感到震惊的是，北卡罗莱纳州到现在还没有采取任何行动来赔偿受害者。”
报道说，被强制绝育的受害者及他们的支持者本来希望北卡罗莱纳州成为首个进行赔偿的州份，现在他们感到非常愤怒。
其中一名受害者伊莱恩‧里迪克说：“我只感到不知所措，他们的心态仍然与那些支持优生学立法的政治家一样。”
报道说，州参议院的决定显然是考虑到财政因素，如果所有仍然在生的受害者都要求赔偿，北卡罗莱纳州可能需要承担大约9千万美元。
Elaine Riddick reacts during a North Carolina state House committee hearing on eugenics compensation funding. The House supported compensation for living victims, but the Senate did not
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Earlier this year, North Carolina became the first state to decide to award a dollar amount -- $50,000 -- to living victims of state-run forced sterilization programs during the early and mid-20th century.
But in a budget deal announced Wednesday, the state Legislature did not provide funding for the compensation. The Republican leadership could not agree on what to pay, if anything, to the estimated 1,300 to 1,800 living victims of the state’s eugenics program, which operated from 1929 to 1974.
The state House had approved the $50,000 payment per victim. But Republicans in the Senate questioned the cost in light of the state's beleaguered budget and warned that compensation could encourage other groups to seek damages from the state.
State Sen. Phil Berger, the Senate leader, told reporters Wednesday that there was no support for the payments, meaning any payouts would probably have to wait at least until next year’s budget.
House Speaker Thom Tillis, who supports the payments, told reporters: "I think there’s a very strong message from the Senate that they’re not prepared to take it up this year.’’
Tillis said he regarded the inability to fund the compensation program "a personal failure.’’ He added: "It’s something I’ll continue to work on.’’
The effort has the backing of Gov. Bev Perdue, a Democrat. In 2010, Perdue established the Justice for Sterilization Victims Foundation, which recommended the $50,000 payments in January.
More than 7,600 people were sterilized from 1929 to 1974 in North Carolina, which ran one of the country’s most aggressive eugenics programs. A State Eugenics Board attempted to "purify" North Carolina’s population by weeding out the mentally ill, diseased, "feeble-minded" and others deemed undesirable.
In a 1950 pamphlet, the Human Betterment League of North Carolina said the board was protecting "the children of future generations and the community at large," adding that "you wouldn't expect a moron to run a train or a feeble-minded woman to teach school.’’
Nearly 85% of those sterilized were women or girls, some as young as 10. Up to 65,000 people in at least 30 states were sterilized nationwide under such programs, according to most estimates. California had the highest number, an estimated 20,000 people.
Copyright © 2012, Los Angeles Times
