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Vermont Lawmakers May Apologize For Eugenics Program |
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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 02 February 2010 |
Vermont Lawmakers May Apologize For Eugenics Program
State Sterilized 'Feeble-Minded' Citizens
February 2, 2010
MONTPELIER, Vt. -- A Vermont legislative committee is taking up the question of whether the state should apologize for a 20th century program to sterilize citizens who were labeled feeble-minded or criminal.
The House Human Services Committee takes testimony Tuesday on the measure, a nonbinding resolution expressing the state's regret about the so-called eugenics movement.
Backers of the resolution say its harms fell disproportionately on Vermonters of Abenaki and French-Canadian heritage, as well as poor Irish and Italian immigrants.
Vermont was one of many states that passed so-called eugenics laws in the 1920s and '30s to try to prevent citizens labeled feeble-minded from having children.
http://www.wptz.com/news/22409241/detail.html |
