State News

Perdue asks sterilization victims to come forward

Gov. Beverly Perdue is asking victims of North Carolina's forced sterilization program to come forward as she puts together a budget that includes compensation for them.

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Eugenics victim, sterilization
RALEIGH, N.C. — Gov. Beverly Perdue is asking victims of North Carolina's forced sterilization program to come forward as she puts together a budget that includes compensation for them.

Perdue said Monday that she's including compensation in her next budget. The N.C. Justice for Sterilization Victims Foundation has verified 111 people who were sterilized in 48 counties.

Wake County ranks third statewide with nine verified cases, trailing Lenoir County, where the Caswell Center is located, with 18 and Mecklenburg County, which had the highest number of procedures in the state, with 10.

Buncombe, Scotland and Hertford counties ranked in the Top 10 for number of procedures but have no matches.

In January, the Eugenics Compensation Task Force recommended a tax-free lump sum payment of $50,000 to living victims and those who were alive when initially verified by the foundation. Spokeswoman Jill Lucas says Perdue hasn't determined what amount she'll recommend in her budget.

From 1929 to 1974, more than 7,600 people in North Carolina were sterilized.

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