Paul Popenoe in his widely used 1920 textbook, Applied Eugenics. pg 364-365. “Not likely” indeed! It is charged that eugenics infringes on the freedom of the individual. This charge (really that of the individualists more than of socialists, strictly speaking) is based mainly on a misconception of what eugenics attempts to do. Coercive measures have …
Category: sterilization
Eugenics Quote of the Day: Compulsory Abortion is Constitutional–says John Holdren
QUOTE: Indeed, it has been concluded that compulsory population-control laws, even including laws requiring compulsory abortion, could be sustained under the existing Constitution if the population crisis became sufficiently severe to endanger the society. [HT] Other quotes by John Holdren: AND: One way to carry out this disapproval might be to insist that all illegitimate …
Eugenic Quote of the Day: Compulsory Vaccination and Compulsory Sterilization? Justified on the Same Principle
Oliver Wendell Holmes in the 1927 Buck vs. Bell decision upholding the forced sterilization of Carrie Buck, ‘feeble-minded.’ [Reference] An Act of Virginia, approved March 20, 1924, recites that the health of the patient and the welfare of society may be promoted in certain cases by the sterilization of mental defectives, under careful safeguard, &c.; …
Buck vs. Bell Supreme Court Decision, Opinion by Oliver Wendell Holmes (1927)
Oliver Wendell Holmes delivering the Supreme Court’s decision in Buck vs. Bell [Source] 274 U.S. 200 Buck v. Bell (No. 292) Argued: April 22, 1927 Decided: May 2, 1927 143 Va. 310, affirmed. Syllabus 1. The Virginia statute providing for the sexual sterilization of inmates of institutions supported by the State who shall be found …
Gordon Rattray Taylor: “The Biological Time Bomb” — the remaking of society via eugenics, family planning, and education
Gordon Rattray Taylor’s 1968 book, The Biological Time Bomb, was referenced in the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court ruling as providing insight on future developments in America. Taylor’s book was released at a time when the term ‘eugenics’ had not yet fallen out of favor. Though he does not explicitly endorse many of the things …
The Eugenic Roots of Genetic Counseling
Charity requires us to believe that most contemporary genetic counselors are not at all motivated by considerations that we would term ‘eugenic.’ However, the founders of the field left no doubt about their motivations, stating them plainly and explicitly, and characterizing them as definitely constituting eugenics. The following material raises more than reasonable doubt that …
Mass Extermination and ‘Lethal Chambers’ Widely Considered by Eugenicists in America, England, and Germay
Long before the Nazis implemented the ‘Final Solution,’ American and English eugenicists had talked often of the use of ‘lethal chambers’ to deal with the pressing problem of the ‘unfit.’ You can imagine Hitler’s surprise, when, after acting on precisely what elites in America and England had long been advocating for, he was perceived as …
The Lethal Chamber Proposal, 1930 Letter to Editor by Dr. Richard Berry
A little known fact is that those with a eugenics mindset had been talking about ‘lethal chambers’ and ‘segregation camps’ for a long time before the Nazis actually used them. Here is one example. The Lethal Chamber Proposal To the Editor, Eugenics Review SIR,-I observe in your issue of April 1930, page 6, that you …
The Roots of the Concentration Camp Were American and British Eugenicists, Not Nazis
For what its worth, the very idea of the ‘concentration camp’ was as much American and British, if not more, as it was Nazi Germany. These ‘segregation’ camps were seen as humane and hygienic ways to prevent the breeding of ‘defective stock.’ Quotes from Eugenicists discussing such camps are provided below. No attempt is made …
Abortion as Eugenics Directed at Black People, Bedroom Politics, Francis Beal
What is below was compiled and produced by Linda Greenhouse and Reva B. Siegel in their Before Roe v. Wade: Voices that shaped the abortion debate before the Supreme Court’s ruling. The ellipses reflect deletions by those authors. Anyone who can locate the full, unabridged text, is kindly asked to contact the administrators of this …
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