Buck Vs Bell

By the 1960’s, states began to reconsider the legalization of abortion in response to the high rate of hospital admissions resulting from illegal abortions and a change in public opinion (“Abortion in Law, History, and Religion”). By the early 1970’s, 17 states had altered their abortion laws towards liberalization (“Abortion in Law, History, and Religion”). In 1973, the Supreme Court declared in Roe vs. Wade that most existing state laws were unconstitutional. The case ruled out any legislative interference in the first trimester of pregnancy and put limits on what restrictions could be passed on abortions in later stages of pregnancy (Sauer).

The Mississippi Appendectomy study started taking place in the 1920’s. The experiment consisted of excessive hysterectomies on many women mainly in the Deep South. Poor Black women were the main focus of the experiments as well as disabled women and women that the physicians thought were not worthy of reproducing. Young, less experienced doctors were told to perform the sterilization process so that they had “a chance to practice the procedure” (50). The experiment was unnecessary and served no true, ethical purpose. The doctors believed it was in order to perform the hysterectomies because the women seemed unfit to have children and to give the younger surgeons practice. In detail, while the women were having an appendectomy (removal of the appendix), the doctors would perform the hysterectomies which were unrelated to the problem with the patients appendix. Therefore, the hysterectomies were uncalled for since the women had no knowledge of the additional procedure and didn’t give consent (University of Maryland, “Mississippi Appendectomy”, par. 1). These procedures resulted in the women deprived of their right to reproduce and no significant benefits to science. The Mississippi Appendectomy had no significant effect on medical history either since no major laws

Roe v. Wade is one of the most talked about Supreme Court cases in history. This paper is going to give a brief overview of this monumental case, how the case affected America, how America would be different if this ruling of this case would have been different, and my personal opinion and reaction to Roe v. Wade.

Sterilization legislature was enacted on the state level with the goal of physically preventing the procreation of individuals deemed to be unfit, mainly handicapped persons or criminals. Though the nature of these laws did not outright target certain races or social classes, a disproportionate amount of the individuals sterilized were non-white or of immigrant background. Prominent eugenicists and eugenic organizations in the U.S. played a key role in lobbying for state sterilization laws. Harry H. Laughlin, superintendent of the Eugenics Record Office, drafted the American Model Eugenical Sterilization Law in 1922, which served as a model for many sterilizations laws in the states (Berenbaum, 1998). By 1926, 23 states had passed sterilization laws that were voluntary and/or involuntary in nature (Sofair, 2000). Laughlin and other eugenicists called for the sterilization of institutionalized individuals under the assertion that their “genetically inferior” traits would be passed to their progeny and be an economic drain on the state. Many states complied, and by 1935 over 30 states had some form of sterilization law with over 21,000 compulsory sterilizations performed (Allen 1997). Though the eugenic nature of these laws was stressed by eugenicists, it was acknowledged that the political support of such laws were greatly financially motivated. Another important legislation passed by the U.S. was the Immigration Restriction Act of 1924, which was the first immigration quota

In the state of Kansas between 1913 and 1961, Kansas practiced forced sterilization on mentally unstable women.” In addition to laws regarding sterilization, several marriage restriction bills were proposed in Kansas as part of the eugenics movement. Although they were never enacted as state law, marriage bills were proposed in 1915, 1917, and 1927, demonstrating the popularity of eugenic ideals.” (University of Vermont…Kansas). Dr. F. Hoyt Pilcher performed 150 sterilization in the Kansas State Home of the Feebleminded. Between the years 1913 and 1916 there were 1,274 women sterilized in Kansas. In the year 1921, sterilization in Kansas was at its all-time lowest. Between the years 1950 and 1963, sterilization in Kansas was at its peak. It is

Later the Circuit Court had supported the law and filed for the sterilization of Carrie. In 1925 Carrie’s lawyer Irving Whitehead supported the decision of the Circuit Court at the Supreme Court of Appeals of the State of Virginia. So after all of this Dr. Priddy had passed away in which Dr. J.H. Bell had replaced him at the Colony. The case now became Buck v. Bell; Dr. Bell had sterilized Carrie in 1927 which then was released from the Colony (Buck v. Bell, 2006).

Many Eugenics organization lobbied for laws to be passed that promoted the sterilization of the deviants of society. In some cases the women who were sterilized tried to fight against the crime committed against them. In Buck v. Bell, 1927 the court ruled in favor of the sterilization of Carrie Buck. She was said to have came from a feeble minded mother and she was called feeble minded as well by Dr. Priddy of Virginia State Colony of Feeble Minded where she was a patient. Her mother was said to be immoral and was a prostitute. Carrie was adopted by another family and was raped by her cousin and was viewed as promiscuous, therefore sent to Dr. Priddy institution (Buck v. Bell). Promiscuous and immorality was viewed as a characteristic that

In contrast to the "negative" eugenics position of the state of Virginia, involuntary sterilization laws emphasizing breeding restrictions for society's "unfit" neither benefit the welfare of the individual nor that of society for several moral and legal reasons. The legal validity of these involuntary sterilization laws would be challenged within the Supreme Court case of Buck v. Bell. In September of 1924, at the age of eighteen, Carrie Buck, an illegitimate daughter of an allegedly feebleminded woman, was admitted to the Virginia's State Colony for Epileptics and the Feebleminded. Six months earlier, the Virginia State Legislature decisively passed their involuntary sterilization bill authorizing the Superintendents of five state institutions to petition for the permission to sterilize inmates. Buck, who had a mental age of nine and an I.Q. of about fifty, had already given birth to an illegitimate child herself, who was allegedly feebleminded as well. At the time, the Superintendent of the State Colony, Dr. A. S. Priddy, petitioned for permission to sterilize this woman for fear that Buck would have more mentally defective children. The statute had provided that each Superintendent needed to receive permission from a special Board of Directors of that institution, who would hear the grounds for sterilization and determine whether or not to follow through on the operation. Priddy faced immense pressure from state officials to petition for sterilization, as

Carrie Buck was placed in a home called Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded alongside her mother. Now at the time there were other states practicing eugenics. This was the first case to challenge Virginia’s 1924 ruling allowing it. Carrie and her mom were labeled feeble minded and promiscuous. They would later go on to label Carrie daughter Vivian feeble minded also.

In the Name of Eugenics by Daniel J. Kevles explores the history of the eugenics movement and several of the most influential eugenicists who impacted the field. The book focuses on the earliest years of the movement when it was used primarily as a way to try and determine who was and was not fit to marry and reproduce, as well as the later years of the movement where it was used to help understand and diagnose various medical problems passed down from parents to their children. Eugenics was primarily used as a way to classify different segments of society and was often used as an excuse to infringe upon the rights of different groups of people who did not fit the societal standard. The first eugenicist Kevles mentions is Francis Galton.

The chapter starts the legal issues with sterilization, which is defined as preventing production by surgeries like vasectomy, oophorectomy, orchiectomy, salpingectomy, etc. These procedures can be perform voluntarily by choice with informed consent and compulsorily to prevent inheriting diseases – Not anymore. Another theme is wrongful birth for disable child and wrongful life, which cases brought behalf of the child because of physicians’ negligence. As mentioned in the text, most of courts decided that physicians are liable and responsible for wrongful birth within the statue of limitation to bring the case. However, only 4 states found that physicians are also liable for wrongful life. Dr. Horvath gave one example previously, which is that

These "science"-based eugenic influences break through the lines of science in to the world of politics, promulgating anti-humanistic views of poor women of colour in the form of legislation fraught with bigotry and baseless generalizations. This political view flows through the judicial system, as courts apply eugenic philosophies in determining who should be sterilized and for what reasons.

Sterilization "on eugenic grounds" (Lombardo 1) was not legalized until 1907 in Indiana, but doctors across the nation practiced the procedure illegally before even then. Generally, the patient didn't know about the sterilization until after the act was done, at which point they were informed of their "feeblemindedness" or other social disorder. Within 17 years of the law being instated, a recorded 3000 people were sterilized, and thousands more suspected off the record. The range of reasons for being sterilized was infinite, ranging from genuine mental disorders such as schizophrenia, to things as pointless as "excessive masturbation" (Selden

There is much bias and confusion surrounding the topic of eugenics. Many times the reason for this is the lack of understanding of what the term means, where it states “In 1883, Sir Francis Galton, a respected British scholar, and cousin of Charles Darwin, first used the term eugenics, meaning ‘well-born.’ (Genetics Generation, 2015).” This term has evolved to encompass more than just “well-born” as can be seen in the encyclopedia. “The eleventh edition of The Encyclopedia Britannica defines eugenics as ‘the organic betterment of the race through wise application of the laws of heredity.’ (Court, 2004).” The meaning of the word eugenics, due to the way it has been used, confuses many people.

Under this law, no recorded sterilizations occurred. In 1929, a modified eugenics law was adopted. Under this law, 49 people were sterilized under the authority of the administration of the institutions. The supreme court ruled this law unconstitutional in 1933 citing the absence of a public hearing notice or standards for appeal. The law was modified and also called for the creation of a North Carolina Eugenics Board. It consisted of three state officials, one representative of a mental health institution and one representative of the State Hospital in Raleigh. The board’s duties were to “review all cases involving the sterilization of mentally diseased, feeble-minded, or epileptic patients, inmates, or non-institutionalized individuals” (North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources). Over the next forty-one years, more than 7,500 sterilizations were carried out under this law. The state ceased this process in 1974 and the Eugenics Commission was subsequently abolished in 1977 ("Eugenics Board of North Carolina", 2017).