Elaine Riddick Jessie

Prior to the sterilization (at age 13), Jessie had been coerced into having sexual intercourse with a man in his 20s (See: statutory rape). Her son, Tony Riddick[?], states, "The work of the Eugenics Board was not far from the thinking of Hitler."

Jessie was living with her grandmother, Maggie "Miss Peaches" Woodard[?], when a social worker discovered her pregnancy. The illiterate Woodard signed an X on a consent form, not knowing what it was, only that if she didn't sign, Elaine would be sent to an orphanage[?]. The Perquimans County Department of Public Welfare had earlier custody of Jessie and her 7 siblings (from their alcoholic parents), sending 5 to an orphanage, and Elaine and one of her sisters to live with Woodard.