 During the course of the litigation, HEW was able to withdraw the challenged regulations.Upon appeal, the Court of Appeals held that the case was now rendered inconsequential by HEW's revisionary actions and remanded the case back to the District Court for dismissal.The issue of forced sterilization came to the forefront of activists' and scholars' minds in the 1960s and '70s when evidence of widespread sterilization abuse on women of color was uncovered.