Virginia to compensate victims of forced sterilizations

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Lewis Reynolds didn't understand what had been done to him when he was 13.

Years later, after getting married, the Lynchburg man discovered he couldn't father children. The reason: He had been sterilized by the state.

Reynolds was among more than 7,000 Virginians involuntarily sterilized between 1924 and 1979 under the Virginia Eugenical Sterilization Act.

Advocates for the surviving victims won a three-year fight Thursday when the Virginia General Assembly budgeted $400,000 to compensate them at the rate of $25,000 each.

It's welcome news, Reynolds said. "I think they done me wrong," he said. "I couldn't have a family like everybody else does. They took my rights away."

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http://bigstory.ap.org/article/5d68578493664c9b945dc5e0ecdecff2/virginia-compensate-victims-forced-sterilizations