Governor signs bill to eliminate sterilization law

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Gov. Mike Easley signed legislation Thursday to formally strike a law from North Carolina's books that had been used to involuntarily sterilize thousands of people over five decades.

The law, which hasn't been used since 1974, allowed the Eugenics Board of North Carolina to sterilize 7,600 people. While the law was used, only California and Virginia performed more sterilizations.

"To the victims and families of this regrettable episode in North Carolina's past, I extend my sincere apologies," Easley said.

North Carolina was one of 33 states to pass sterilization laws in the early 1900s based on eugenics, the pseudoscientific movement to solve social problems by preventing the "unfit" from having children.

About 65,000 people were sterilized nationwide.