Those who endured forced sterilization at Los Angeles County General Hospital in the late 1960s and early 1970s are being sought out in an effort to provide financial restitution.
Wendy Carrillo, an assemblywoman in California, has announced the start of a sweeping legislative initiative to address the egregious injustice.
Carrillo initiated the California Forced or Involuntary Sterilized Compensation Program last year, allocating $7.8 million for an awareness campaign and compensation to survivors of forced or involuntary sterilization at state-run institutions like as state hospitals and jails.
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The survivors of undocumented sterilization at Los Angeles County General Hospital in the late 1960s and early 1970s were left out of the program due to a lack of study and information.
Carrillo, outraged by the unjust treatment of the largely Spanish-speaking, immigrant women who gave birth at LA County General Hospital and were sterilized without consent, raised an additional $300,000 for the Alliance for a Better Community to conduct a study on the topic.
We need to locate them so that we may enroll them in the course.
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Assemblywoman Carrillo said that protecting women’s freedom of choice should include the right to select whether or not to have children.
“LA County General Hospital was not a government-run institution, but it adhered to the eugenics concepts of the time, which gave doctors the authority to decide who might have children.
In addition to permanently denying countless women the ability to bear children, the repugnant practices also stripped them of control over their own bodies.”
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Carrillo acknowledges the role of the 2015 documentary No Más Bebes in raising awareness of the problem.
