Day 3- Eugenics Movement

Buck V Bell Facts + Holding + Majority Reasoning

• Facts: Carrie Buck, labeled “feeble-minded,” ordered sterilized under VA law

• Holding: Forced sterilization constitutional

• Reasoning:

  • Public welfare > individual rights

  • Procedural due process satisfied

  • Compared to vaccination

  • Eugenics justification (“prevent unfit reproduction”)

Skinner V. Oklahoma Facts + Holding + Reasoning

• Facts: Law sterilized “habitual criminals” (but exempted some crimes like embezzlement)

• Holding: Law unconstitutional

• Reasoning:

  • Procreation = fundamental right

  • Violates Equal Protection (arbitrary distinctions)

  • No scientific basis for targeting certain crimes

Stone concurrence in Skinner

• Focus on Due Process

• No individualized hearing on whether traits were inheritable

• Law imposed irreparable harm without proper procedure

Jackson concurrence in Skinner

• Warns against state “biological experiments.”

• Protects the dignity of minority groups

• Skeptical of government controlling reproduction

What were eugenics advisory boards?

• Panels (often doctors) approving sterilizations

• Claimed to provide “due process”

• Enabled mass sterilization

What happened to the Relf sisters?

• Black, underage, disabled girls

• Sterilized without informed consent

• Mother misled → thought it was birth control

• Shows coercion + racism

What does the California/Follett example show?

• Teen sterilized simply for being a ward of the state

• No real medical justification

• Shows class-based eugenics

What happened in California prisons?

• Women sterilized (2006–2010) during pregnancy

• Coerced during medical care

• Doctors framed it as “better for them.”

• Lack of true consent

• thought the babies would just be from welfare mothers

What did the Tennessee judge do?

• Offered reduced sentences for sterilization

• Coercive “choice”

• Targets vulnerable populations

• lacks due process

How are racism and eugenics connected?

• Targets:

  • Black women

  • poor populations

• Stereotypes:

  • “bad mothers”

  • “welfare queens”

• Reinforces racial + class hierarchy

How does eugenics operate outside prisons?

• TANF/work requirements discourage parenting

• Public systems treat poor patients with suspicion

• Invasive welfare/medical processes

• “Negative eugenics” → limiting reproduction

• positive eugenics- increasing access to reproduction for desired populations

Legal arguments against modern sterilization

• Equal Protection: targets marginalized groups

• Due Process: lack of consent + hearings

• Procreation = fundamental right (Skinner) so either overturn it or recognize the right

What is forced sterilization?

• Permanent procedure without true consent

• Includes:

  • coercion

  • deception

  • substituted decision-making by guardian or judge

How does guardianship relate?

• Others make decisions for individual

• Can approve sterilization

• Limits autonomy

What do current laws allow?

• ~30+ states allow sterilization

• Judges/guardians decide

• Some states unclear → less oversight

Who is most impacted?

• Disabled people

• Especially women of color

• Poor + incarcerated individuals

How does it happen? What is the Process?

• Guardian/parent requests

• Judge may approve

• Individual may not:

  • understand

  • consent

  • refuse

How is forced sterilization part of a bigger pattern?

• Rooted in eugenics

• Continues through:

  • law

  • healthcare

  • prisons

• Controls who can reproduce