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Forced sterilizations
Published in Irehobhude O. Iyioha, Women’s Health and the Limits of Law, 2019
The contradictory elements that we see in relation to reproductive rights have been present not only in state actions but also in campaigns for women’s access to contraception and reproductive rights from the early 20th century.12 Marie Stopes is noted for her promotion of contraception and reproductive choice for women.13 Yet, in her overall strategy, she openly supported eugenics, the pseudo-science aimed at improving the genetic quality of the population.14 In arguing for married upper- and middle-class women to choose how to space their children and have freedom from the fear of pregnancy, she also argued that other women should have no choice. A clear part of her strategy included compulsory sterilization of those deemed ‘unfit’ to have children.15 Eugenics policies and laws were once common across the world under a variety of democracies and regimes.16 While the movement did not gain traction in the UK, policies were enacted into law in the United States and, very notably, Germany in the 1930s.
Biology and Crime
Published in Gail S. Anderson, Biological Influences on Criminal Behavior, 2019
Boys as young as 14 years were castrated for something as clearly non-criminal as masturbation.16 In the 1970s in America, Native American women were sterilized against their will, with estimates as high as 25% of women of childbearing age.16 Even as late as 1979, compulsory sterilization was practiced in some US states for crime prevention or punishment, and at some points, more than two-thirds of states enforced sterilization, with over 60 000 disabled people sterilized.16 Most were sterilized owing to mental illness or if people were of very low socioeconomic status (SES).16 There are many people alive today who were sterilized without their knowledge, mostly at the request of parents who found them unruly or promiscuous.
The Twentieth Century
Published in Arturo Castiglioni, A History of Medicine, 2019
In the sanitary legislation of modern times the problem of obligatory sterilization of the individual unfit to produce healthy children has attained increasing importance. The problem was emphasized in Germany by the concept of the hygienic defence of the so-called Aryan race contained in the program of the totalitarian regime. Granting the desirability of preventing as far as possible the birth of morons, epileptics, and future criminals, most hygienists recognize that with our present incomplete knowledge of the hereditary transmission of mental qualities and of the inherited combinations that go to make up the criminal, it is impossible to construct legislation to bring about such results without profoundly damaging the rights of the individual and the laws of nature. There are too many cases where individuals of the highest moral and mental capacity have arisen from the most unlikely origin and vice versa. Up to the present time the example of Germany in this field has not been followed by any other European state. The compulsory sterilization of habitual criminals, drunkards, and the insane is now foreseen, however, in some parts of the United States.
The ongoing discussion on termination of life on request. A review from a German/European perspective
Published in International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice, 2021
A brief discussion of the ideological and historical background of euthanasia during the Nazi era is relevant here because it illustrates how scientific and parascientific ideas can develop in a horrifying direction. As a consequence of Darwinistic and genetic ideas—which were further developed within the concepts of social Darwinism—in the early 20th century some European countries aimed to improve the hereditary quality of their populations by introducing various practices, including marriage restrictions, compulsory sterilisation and forced abortions. In this context, euthanasia and ultimately genocide were the final culmination of the ideology of eugenics. Before the realisation of euthanasia in killing centres during the Nazi regime, most supporters of eugenics did not consider the idea that eugenics could lead to executions and genocide; however, some German psychiatrists later paved the way for this horrific development, in particular Alfred Hoche (chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Freiburg, 1865–1943), who coined the term ‘life unworthy of living’ (‘lebensunwertes Leben’) and called for the destruction of such life. With this terminology, he destroyed the principal dignity of human life and opened the door for euthanasia against the will of the respective persons.
“We can conceive another history”: Trans activism around abortion rights in Argentina
Published in International Journal of Transgender Health, 2020
In this regard, some research has focused on the eugenic compulsory sterilization practices that have been directly or indirectly enforced on trans individuals as a condition for legal gender recognition, in the past and present, in places such as the United States, some European countries, and Japan (Honkasalo, 2018; Lowik, 2017a), and in Argentina before the passing of the country’s Gender Identity Law in 2012 (Cabral & Viturro, 2006). Other research has focused on obstacles to reproduction for trans persons even in the absence of eugenic laws, such as difficulties in accessing assisted reproductive technologies or fertility preservation due to economic barriers, the absence of specific policy supports, and the cultural erasure of reproductive trans bodies (Lamm, 2019; Nixon, 2013; Radi, 2019; Strangio, 2016). Meanwhile, some emerging work looks at trans individuals’ right not to reproduce, such as a manual for providing trans-inclusive abortion services (Lowik, 2017b) and studies of pro-natalist pressures from some medical professionals and parents who push transgender individuals to undergo fertility preservation treatments, even in the absence of their desire to do so (Riggs & Bartholomaeus, 2020).
Classless: Classism in Social Work Practice and the Example of White Rural Proverty
Published in Smith College Studies in Social Work, 2020
The example of the American eugenics’ movement provides the background by which to examine these above-mentioned biases. The theories behind eugenics principles as evidenced in both advocacy for compulsory sterilization and the eradication of hookworm, delineate the historic framework in which we view, interact with, and treat the rural poor. Our treatment of this population is based on implicit bias that has its roots in the ideals and attitudes on which eugenics was based. The social work profession is left with remnants of those attitudes and actions that will be illustrated within this paper. Coupled with the examination of the expressly unique psychosocial needs is the importance of examining this population.