<P> The first state to introduce a compulsory sterilization bill was Michigan, in 1897, but the proposed law failed to pass . Eight years later Pennsylvania's state legislators passed a sterilization bill that was vetoed by the governor . Indiana became the first state to enact sterilization legislation in 1907, followed closely by California and Washington in 1909 . Several other states followed, but such legislation remained controversial enough to be defeated in some cases, as in Wyoming in 1934 . Sterilization rates across the country were relatively low, with the sole exception of California, until the 1927 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Buck v. Bell which legitimized the forced sterilization of patients at a Virginia home for the intellectually disabled . In the wake of that decision, over 62,000 people in the United States, most of them women, were sterilized . The number of sterilizations performed per year increased until another Supreme Court case, Skinner v. Oklahoma, 1942, complicated the legal situation by ruling against sterilization of criminals if the equal protection clause of the constitution was violated . That is, if sterilization was to be performed, then it could not exempt white - collar criminals . </P> <P> Most sterilization laws could be divided into three main categories of motivations: eugenic (concerned with heredity), therapeutic (based on the idea that sterilization could cure one of sexual traits such as masturbation or pedophilia), or punitive (as a punishment for criminals), though of course these motivations could be combined in practice and theory (sterilization of criminals could be both punitive and eugenic, for example). Buck v. Bell asserted that eugenic sterilization was constitutional, whereas Skinner v. Oklahoma ruled specifically against punitive sterilization . Most operations only worked to prevent reproduction (such as severing the vas deferens in males), though some states (Oregon and North Dakota in particular) had laws which called for the use of castration . In general, most sterilizations were performed under eugenic statutes, in state - run psychiatric hospitals and homes for the mentally disabled . There was never a federal sterilization statute, though eugenicist Harry H. Laughlin, whose state - level "Model Eugenical Sterilization Law" was the basis of the statute affirmed in Buck v. Bell, proposed the structure of one in 1922 . </P> <P> After World War II, public opinion towards eugenics and sterilization programs became more negative in the light of the connection with the genocidal policies of Nazi Germany, though a significant number of sterilizations continued in a few states through the 1970s . The Oregon Board of Eugenics, later renamed the Board of Social Protection, existed until 1983, with the last forcible sterilization occurring in 1981 . The U.S. commonwealth Puerto Rico had a sterilization program as well . Some states continued to have sterilization laws on the books for much longer after that, though they were rarely if ever used . California sterilized more than any other state by a wide margin, and was responsible for over a third of all sterilization operations . Information about the California sterilization program was produced into book form and widely disseminated by eugenicists E.S. Gosney and Paul B. Popenoe, which was said by the government of Adolf Hitler to be of key importance in proving that large - scale compulsory sterilization programs were feasible . In recent years, the governors of many states have made public apologies for their past programs beginning with Virginia and followed by Oregon and California . Few have offered to compensate those sterilized, however, citing that few are likely still living (and would of course have no affected offspring) and that inadequate records remain by which to verify them . At least one compensation case, Poe v. Lynchburg Training School & Hospital (1981), was filed in the courts on the grounds that the sterilization law was unconstitutional . It was rejected because the law was no longer in effect at the time of the filing . However, the petitioners were granted some compensation because the stipulations of the law itself, which required informing the patients about their operations, had not been carried out in many cases . The 27 states where sterilization laws remained on the books (though not all were still in use) in 1956 were: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin . </P> <P> As of January 2011, discussions were underway regarding compensation for the victims of forced sterilization under the authorization of the Eugenics Board of North Carolina . Governor Bev Perdue formed the NC Justice for Sterilization Victims Foundation in 2010 in order "to provide justice and compensate victims who were forcibly sterilized by the State of North Carolina". In 2013 North Carolina announced that it would spend $10 million beginning in June 2015 to compensate men and women who were sterilized in the state's eugenics program; North Carolina sterilized 7,600 people from 1929 to 1974 who were deemed socially or mentally unfit . </P>

When was the last forced sterilization united states