The Winston-Salem Journal investigated North Carolina's sterilization program in an excellent five-part series called, "Against their will" in 2002.Earlier this month, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services put out a call requesting that victims of 1929-1974 N.C. Eugenics Program contact N.C. DHHS.
RALEIGH – People who believe they or a member of their family may have been sterilized through the N.C. Eugenics Program between 1929 and 1974 are urged to call the North Carolina CARE-LINE at 1-800-662-7030.
More than 7,600 North Carolinians were sterilized, many of them involuntarily, during the 45 years the program was active. The program ended in 1974, and the law that allowed for involuntary sterilization was repealed by the General Assembly in 2003.
A government committee is currently reviewing the program and its lasting effects, and is developing recommendations for action by the state legislature in the 2009 legislative session.
The people who call in to the CARE-LINE will be asked to provide their names and other important information that can help researchers search through old records to determine if the person was indeed sterilized under that state program.
Every person who is found to be a survivor of that program will be notified about how to get a copy of those records.
