Abstract
As referred to in the leading article on p. 221 of this issue, twenty-seven states in the United States now have eugenic sterilisation laws, and the Human Betterment Foundation, Pasadena, California, has completed a tabulation of all official sterilisations in the United States. These numbered 10,877 up to the end of 1929, and 16,066 in the following three years to the end of 1932, an increase of nearly 50 per cent. It should be understood that sterilisation, as now performed, does not in any way unsex the individual except in making parenthood impossible, is rarely performed without the consent of the next of kin, and is chiefly applied to mental defectives, whose taint is so frequently transmitted to their children. A critical survey of 6,000 cases during the last twenty years shows that the families of the sterilised patients generally approve of the operation, and of the patients themselves 6 cases out of every 7 appear to be satisfied with the results. Many feebleminded girls have married after sterilisation, and the majority of these marriages have been reasonably successful. Whereas three-fourths of these feebleminded girls were sex delinquents before sterilisation, only one in every 12 has been a sex offender after sterilisation. Sterilisation permits many patients to return to their homes who otherwise would be confined in institutions, and thus eases the burden of the taxpayer, and is one practical step in the prevention of racial deterioration.
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Eugenic Sterilisation in the United States. Nature 132, 234 (1933). https://doi.org/10.1038/132234b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/132234b0