Virginia apologizes for sterilizations

Associated Press

May 03, 2002

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Gov. Mark Warner apologized Thursday for Virginia's forced sterilization of thousands of people from 1924 to 1979, calling it "a shameful effort" that must never be repeated.

Virginia conducted about 7,450 sterilizations under the banner of eugenics, or selective human breeding and social engineering.

On Thursday, it became the first of the 30 states that conducted such sterilizations to apologize. There were more than 60,000 eugenics victims nationwide.

Warner's apology coincides with the 75th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's Buck vs. Bell decision upholding Virginia's eugenics law, which became a model for other states.

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