On Thursday, May 11, 2006, L.A. County Sup. Gloria Molina and others were honored at the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice 2006 Awards Dinner for their fight to stop nonconsensual sterilizations of Spanish-speaking women at the L.A. County-University of Southern California (LAC+USC) Medical Center during the 1970s. The ceremony was held at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown L.A. and attended by hundreds of guests. Though it is difficult to believe, just a generation ago, the ghastly nonconsenual sterilizations were common practice at "Big County" hospital. Without the courageous work of attorneys and staff from the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice, the sterilization abuses would have continued indefinitely. This struggle played a major role in Sup. Gloria Molina's personal political awakening -- as it did for lots of other Chicanas throughout Los Angeles, especially the members of Comisión Femeníl Mexicana Nacional, a Chicana feminist organization. Many of the women from Comisión Femenil -- and the LAC+USC resident physician who first exposed the abuses -- are still fighting the good fight to this day. Evelyn Martinez, who was a student at the time, was instrumental in obtaining testimony from sterilization victims and testifying before various legislative agencies to demand change. She now serves as executive director of First 5 LA. Olivia Rodriguez, another Comisión Femeníl member, also worked hard on this issue. She currently heads the Chicana Service Action Center in East L.A. Dr. Bernard Rosenfeld -- the LAC+USC resident physician who sacrificed a great deal personally after deciding to go public with this scandal -- now practices medicine in Texas. Antonia Hernández worked as a lawyer at the L.A. Center for Law and Justice when she learned from young Dr. Rosenfeld about the sterilization abuses. She currently leads the California Community Foundation and served for years as the head of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Ultimately, Comisión Femeníl filed a class-action lawsuit against L.A. County in 1975 to stop the sterilizations from continuing. (At the time, Sup. Gloria Molina was president of the organization.) While they didn't win the court case, they did win "informed consent." This basically means that a patient must sign a sterilization consent form in a language she understands -- and not while in the throes of labor -- before the procedure can take place. Though most sterilization victims have since passed away and, thus, could not attend the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice 2006 Awards Dinner, Sup. Gloria Molina and others accepted their commendations in the victims' memory. The ordeals they suffered through are an irretrievable part of our community's history. They will never be forgotten.