California’s Sterilization Survivors: An Estimate and Call for Redress

Alexandra Minna Stern · Nicole Louise Novak · Natalie Lira · Kate O’Connor · Sioḃán D. Harlow · Sharon L. R. Kardia

70 citations0/0 files storedAmerican Journal of Public Health

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Medical History and Research Ethics and bioethics in healthcare Medical and Health Sciences Research

Abstract

From 1919 to 1952, approximately 20 000 individuals were sterilized in California's state institutions on the basis of eugenic laws that sought to control the reproductive capacity of people labeled unfit and defective. Using data from more than 19 000 sterilization recommendations processed by state institutions over this 33-year period, we provide the most accurate estimate of living sterilization survivors. As of 2016, we estimate that as many as 831 individuals, with an average age of 87.9 years, are alive. We suggest that California emulate North Carolina and Virginia, states that maintained similar sterilization programs and recently have approved monetary compensation for victims. We discuss the societal obligation for redress of this historical injustice and recommend that California seriously consider reparations and full accountability.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 70 citations exist upstream.

References

1996Controlling human heredity: 1865 to the present 2005STERILIZED in the Name of Public Health 2008The Politics of Official Apologies 2002Building a better race: gender, sexuality, and eugenics from the turn of the century to the baby boom 1997In the Name of Eugenics: Genetics and the Uses of Human Heredity 2012The Science of Human Perfection 2009Three generations, no imbeciles: eugenics, the Supreme Court, and Buck v. Bell 2013Sterilized by the State

Cited by

2017Cautious Citizenship: The Deterring Effect of Immigration Issue Salience on Health Care Use and Bureaucratic Interactions among Latino US Citizens 2021Confidence and Hesitancy During the Early Roll-out of COVID-19 Vaccines Among Black, Hispanic, and Undocumented Immigrant Communities: a Review 2022Obstetric violence in historical perspective 2017The Nazi Physicians as Leaders in Eugenics and “Euthanasia”: Lessons for Today 2016Historical Misfeasance: Immorality to Justice in Public Health

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.