{"id":1886,"date":"2024-12-16T16:07:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-16T16:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theradicalagenda.com\/home\/?p=1886"},"modified":"2025-09-01T18:14:57","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T18:14:57","slug":"forced-sterilization-united-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theradicalagenda.com\/home\/forced-sterilization-united-states\/","title":{"rendered":"History of Forced Sterilization in the United States"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

History of Forced Sterilization in the United States<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When we think of the term \u201cgenocide,\u201d we think of Hitler and his 1930s-1940s eugenics campaign,\u00a0but the part that is not taught in schools is that Hitler was inspired by none other than\u00a0the practice of forced sterilization in the United States.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"a<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

What Are Eugenics?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The term “eugenics” refers to a study of method of reproductive selection meant to improve qualities that are considered “desirable.” It was developed by a Sir Francis Galton, a Victorian-era anthropologist. This “study” has since been debunked for the racist trash it is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The eugenics movement in the United States began in the 1800s and continued\u00a0through the 20th century, including federal funding in over 30 states.\u00a0This movement disproportionately targeted minorities and people with disabilities by\u00a0overly diagnosing people as \u201cfeebleminded,\u201d using this excuse as a reason to sterilize\u00a0someone against their will. They held a belief that \u201cfeebleminded\u201d people would birth\u00a0children dependent on government assistance, which was enough to get civilians to\u00a0agree to the practice.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Did the Supreme Court Say About Forced Sterilization? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Forced sterilization in the United States was protected by a Supreme Court decision in 1927, Buck vs. Bell, where the\u00a0Supreme Court determined that it was legally appropriate to sterilize inmates and\u00a0people who lived in institutions, no matter why they were there. Only one Justice\u00a0dissented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was so common among Black women in the 1960s that many referred to it as a\u00a0\u201cMississippi appendectomy.\u201d Many of these women received permanent sterilizations\u00a0by medical students as practice, not even by licensed doctors.\u00a0Fannie Lou Hamer became an outspoken Civil Rights Activists after her own Mississippi appendectomy. A children’s book <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A case in 1942, Skinner vs. Oklahoma, was ruled by the Supreme Court to determine\u00a0the right to procreate was covered as a human right.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2020, news broke of forced sterilizations of immigrant women who were detained\u00a0at the United States southern border, and millions were rightly horrified. But a study\u00a0from California revealed that even though the California eugenics laws were repealed in 1979, permanent sterilization without the consent of the patient was occurring on\u00a0United States citizens even as recently as 2013, and the doctors received money from\u00a0the states for participating in the procedure. California is now forced to pay restitution\u00a0up to $25,000 per victim as of 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buck vs Bell has not been overturned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An<\/figure>
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Voice of Freedom Fannie Lou Hamer: Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement by Carole Boston Weatherford <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Content warning: I adore everything Carole Boston Weatherford has written, but be forewarned she did include another character calling Ms. Hamer the full n-word in this book. I skipped over it when I read it aloud to my children. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Walk With Me: A Biography of Fannie Lou Hamer by Kate Clifford Larson <\/h2>\n<\/div>
\"a<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Better For All the World: The Secret History of Forced Sterilization and America’s Quest for Racial Purity by Harry Bruinius <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

History of Forced Sterilization in the United States When we think of the term \u201cgenocide,\u201d we think of Hitler and his 1930s-1940s eugenics campaign,\u00a0but the part that is not taught in schools is that Hitler was inspired by none other than\u00a0the practice of forced sterilization in the United States.\u00a0 What Are Eugenics? The term “eugenics”…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-medical-racism","category-topics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theradicalagenda.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theradicalagenda.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theradicalagenda.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theradicalagenda.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theradicalagenda.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1886"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/theradicalagenda.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1893,"href":"https:\/\/theradicalagenda.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1886\/revisions\/1893"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theradicalagenda.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theradicalagenda.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theradicalagenda.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theradicalagenda.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}