Compensation for victims of forced sterilization at SDC and beyond

The California Victim Compensation Board began airing radio and TV ads in English and Spanish this week in an effort to reach survivors of forced sterilization at state hospitals and prisons and encourage them to apply for compensation.

Many of those victims likely lived in Sonoma Valley.

“Between 1909 and 1952, some 5,500 or more Eldridge residents were coerced or compelled into undergoing vasectomies or salpingectomies (removal of one or both of a woman’s fallopian tubes). The procedures were justified at the time in shockingly derogatory and racist language that labeled them morons, imbeciles and undesirables who should not be allowed to breed,” The Press Democrat reported in November.

The ads are part of a wide-ranging outreach campaign that has included sending posters and fact sheets to 1,000 skilled nursing facilities, 500 libraries and all state prisons.

The Forced or Involuntary Sterilization Compensation Program began on Jan. 1, 2022, and concludes on Dec. 31, 2023.

The program is aimed at compensating survivors of eugenics laws that allowed state hospitals and other state-run facilities to perform medical procedures on people while in their care that prevented them from physically being able to have children. The program also compensates state prisoners who underwent a sterilization procedure without their consent while in custody after 1979, when eugenics laws were repealed.

“With these ads, we hope to reach a broader audience and connect more survivors of forced sterilization with the compensation they deserve,” board Executive Officer Lynda Gledhill said. “We encourage all those who were involuntarily sterilized to reach out and apply for compensation, and to spread the word to others, who may have been impacted so they can do the same.”

When the legislation establishing the program was introduced, experts estimated that approximately 600 survivors of state-sponsored sterilization were still living.

Under the program, $4.5 million is to be split among all eligible survivors who apply. Victims would receive $15,000 immediately and then a second check in 2024, when the remaining funds will be divided evenly among all approved members.

In addition to the compensation amount, the Legislature provided $2 million for program administration and outreach and $1 million to establish markers or plaques at designated sites acknowledging the victims of state-sponsored sterilization.

For more information, call 800-777-9229 or visit victims.ca.gov.