 Their mother (who was illiterate) unknowingly authorized the procedure by signing an "X", under the false impression that her daughters were being receiving routine birth control injections.The District Court initially decided in favor of the Relf sisters; its decision declared certain HEW regulations covering sterilizations to be "arbitrary and unreasonable" and prohibited HEW from providing federal funds to be used for the sterilization of "certain incompetent persons".The District Court also ordered HEW to amend its overall regulations.