CENTERSTAGE
PEOPLE WHO CALIFORNIA STERILIZED CAN NOW APPLY FOR REPARATION PAYMENTS By Tanu Henry, California Black Media
P
eople who the state of California had a hand in forcing or coercing to undergo vasectomies or get their tubes tied are now eligible for compensation. The payments will come from a $7.5 million state fund.
compensation. $4.5 million of the fund will be used for payments evenly divided among people who apply and are approved. Each will receive a check for an amount up to $25,000 dollars.
Some of those victims, both men and women, were sterilized without their consent or knowledge.
Another $2 million will be used for public information campaigns promoting the program. $1 million will be used to create and install commemorative plaques at locations where “the wrongful sterilization of thousands of vulnerable people” happened, according to the Governor’s office.
“California is committed to confronting this dark chapter in the state’s past and addressing the impacts of this shameful history still being felt by Californians today,” said Gov. Newsom last week when he announced the program which began Jan 1 and is included as a line item in the state’s 2021-22 budget. The Governor’s office estimates that there about 600 survivors, eligible and alive, who underwent the nowillegal method of birth control either at state medical facilities or in prison. The survivors have until Dec. 31, 2023 to apply for | 1 6 | T H E HU B MA G A Z I N E W I N T E R 2 0 2 2
Last year, Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo (D-Los Angeles) wrote and introduced Assembly Bill (AB) 1007 that proposed the program and served as the basis for funding the policy, which was included in the state budget after negotiations with legislative leaders. Carillo said the launch of the program represents a victory that “comes to fruition after decades of advocacy.” She IS S UU.C O M/ THEHUBMAG
