美北卡州參院否決強製絕育賠償方案
美國北卡羅萊納州參議院周三否決了一項賠償該州被強製絕育的受害人的方案。
該州眾議院此前通過了給每名受害者賠償5萬美金的方案。
但一名共和黨員州參議員表示，北卡羅萊納州負擔不起在州預算中加入這筆款項。
在1929年至1974年間，北卡羅萊納州有大約7600人被迫接受強製絕育，其中大部分為貧窮的黑人女性。
據報道，1907年美國印第安納州通過了美國第一部絕育法，規定政府有權對罪犯、智障人士或州專家委員會批準的其他人實施強製性絕育手術，隨後30多個州也通過了有關法律。
報道稱，北卡羅萊納州引人注目之處是在於第二次世界大戰之後仍然擴大強製性絕育計劃。
一名支持賠償方案的民主黨議員表示：“我感到震驚的是，北卡羅萊納州到現在還沒有采取任何行動來賠償受害者。”
報道說，被強製絕育的受害者及他們的支持者本來希望北卡羅萊納州成為首個進行賠償的州份，現在他們感到非常憤怒。
其中一名受害者伊萊恩‧裏迪克說：“我隻感到不知所措，他們的心態仍然與那些支持優生學立法的政治家一樣。”
報道說，州參議院的決定顯然是考慮到財政因素，如果所有仍然在生的受害者都要求賠償，北卡羅萊納州可能需要承擔大約9千萬美元。
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
