RALEIGH

The law is the last legal link to North Carolina's eugenic sterilization program, which authorized more than 7,600 sterilizations from 1929 through 1974.

Rep. Larry Womble, D-Forsyth, sponsored the bill after learning of the abuses that took place under the sterilization program, which was based on exaggerated claims that it could eliminate mental illness, genetic defects and social ills.

Many of the sterilizations were involuntary or based on questionable IQ tests. Some were performed on children as young as 10.

Changing the law will help make sure that such abuses never happen in the future, said Womble, who was joined yesterday by two victims of the sterilization program at a meeting of the House Health Committee.

"Don't let this continue," said one of the victims, Nial Cox Ramirez, who was sterilized in 1965 at age 18 after the birth of her daughter.

"Everybody has a right to have children," said the second victim, Elaine Riddick Jesse, who was sterilized in 1968 at 14 after the birth of her son.

Ramirez and Jesse left North Carolina shortly after their operations, and both now live in the Atlanta area.

The law is seldom used. Three petitions were granted in 2001-02. Over the past five years, only one patient at a state mental hospital was sterilized.

The state's eugenic sterilization program has come under increased scrutiny since a series of stories in the Winston-Salem Journal in December exposed previously unreleased details.

Gov. Mike Easley formally apologized for the program and appointed a committee to investigate how it happened, how to prevent a similar scenario in the future and how to compensate the victims.

The law that Womble's bill would repeal allows sterilization in cases of a person's "mental, moral or physical improvement," or for the "public good."

"The people of North Carolina have a right to prevent the procreation of children who will become a burden on the state," the N.C. Supreme Court said in 1976 when it upheld the law.

The final version of Womble's bill includes an amendment giving parents the right to have their mentally retarded or mentally ill children sterilized in special circumstances.

The guardian of a mentally ill or mentally retarded person would be able to petition a clerk of the court for an operation by providing a sworn statement from a doctor that it is medically necessary and is not for the sole purpose of sterilization.

A sworn statement from a psychiatrist or psychologist to determine if the person is able to comprehend the nature of the operation also would be required.

Womble's bill will now go before the full House for a vote and then to the Senate, if it passes.

Easley supports the bill, Womble said.

• Kevin Begos can be reached in Washington at (202) 662-7672 or at kbegos@mediageneral.com

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