North Carolina passes forced-sterilisation payouts

I was young at the time these laws existed and was actually unaware of them. In California we were more focused on ending the Vietnam War that I'd just returned from in 1969. Obviously these laws were a heinous violation of the Rights of the Person but it's not surprising that North Carolina, which was highly racist at the time, had these laws. But there is a deeper irony that I found in this story.


North Caroline has always been controlled by "social conservatives" (even when it was by Southern racist Democrats prior to the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960's) and has always been highly opposed to abortion. We can assume that the case of Elaine Riddick occurred before the Roe v Wade decision when abortion was outlawed in North Carolina so even though she was raped she was required under the law to have the baby.... and then was sterilized for being being raped!!!

Today, even after Roe v Wade established the Right of a Woman to have an abortion, the state of North Caroline leads the way in trying to prevent women from exercising their Constitutional Rights established by the Roe v Wade decision.