PRESENTATION WRITE UP: Treatment of the retarded in the US

Many states moved toward the eugenics programs in the 1930's to prevent the
mentally retarded and the mentally ill people from producing children, which
they deemed worthless. These states passed laws legalizing communities and
mental institutions to sterilize individuals and to commit to institutions
those who are considered socially unfit. When other states had got rid of
similar polices, the southern states continued to pursue their goals by
receiving support from public leaders. Eugenics program mostly focused on
whites since discrimination polices prevented blacks and whites from having
contact with each other. In 1962 the American Law Institute recommended that
drugs be legalized or any other substances be used to avoid pregnancy. They
used a form of contraception that was called IUD or Intrauterine
contraception. This was implanted into feeble-minded women to prevent
conception. To show you how widely used this sterilization treatment was used
I will give an example of a court case that took place in Virginia. Bell vs.
Buck there was a fifty-year old woman who brought her case to the courts.
She was taken to the hospital so the doctor's could remove her appendix. It
wasn't until years later that she found out she had been sterilized because
of the sterilization laws in her state at that time.

Over all I thought the presentation went well. Some individuals mentioned
that I repeated myself. I think that was due to the fact I was nervous.
Another question that was posed was what did the carnival or fitter family
contests have to do with my presentation? The reason I included that was to
give you the idea of how the people at that time were thinking or what their
goals were in society. Another question that was asked was do these laws
still exist? That answers, I believe is no, only in other countries like
China. Other classmates asked who were the political leader involved with
the Eugenics Movement? To answer that question I have submitted a portion of
my paper to clarify who was involved. You might be surprised.
The biggest supporter of the eugenics movement was the government. Large
portions of money were given towards the movement so that society could
"breed a better race" of people. The biggest support of the Eugenics
movement at that time was John D. Rockefeller. The statement that best
demonstrates this is as follows:
"Civil libertarians and feminists who advocated abortion did not fight a
lonely battle because they were receiving generous sums from the ruling
elite. John D. Rockefeller III and his family were its prominent patrons he
helped the American Eugenics Society survive the depression."(Meehan Pg.1)

Another question that was asked was what other people were classified as
"feeble-minded? During this time anyone that was not considered the ideal
person was not excepted in society. Individuals that were mentally retarded
were also considered to be an unacceptable part of society. People that were
deemed undesirable were often referred to as feeble-minded. To give you an
idea of how people of the nineteenth century thought of the feeble-minded I
have chosen a quote from Alexander Crockburn's article on "Eugenics in the
United States."

"In 1935, spake Dr. J N Baker, state health officer for Alabama. He was
addressing the legislature on a proposal for compulsory sterilization of a
category of persons vaguely sketched as"the feeble-minded", but also
including "any sexual pervert, sadist, homosexual, masochist, sodomist, or
any other grave form of sexual perversion, or any prisoner who has twice been
convicted of rape or imprisoned three times for any offense."(Cockburn Pg.1)
If you have any other questions your are welcome to e-mail me at
stumblely@aol.com. The following is the list of sources I used when
researching my topic.

Bibliography

Cockburn, Alexander. Social cleansing. New statesman & Society 1-7, August
1994.

Glannon, Walter. Genes, Embryos, and Future People. Bioethics 12(3): 187-211,
July 1998

Garver, Kenneth L.; and Garver, Bettylee. The Human Genome Project and
Eugenic Concerns. American Journal of Human Genetics 54 (1): 148-58, January
1994.

Kevles, Daniel J. Eugenics and human rights. British Medical journal.1-6
August 1999.

Meehan, Mary. How Eugenics birthed population control. The Human Live Review.
1-12, 1998.

Quinn, Peter. Closet Full of Bones. America. 1-5, February 1995.

Rose, Hilary. Screening awakens spectres of the past. UNESCO Courier. 1-3,
September 1993.

Wachbroit, Robert. What Is Wrong with Eugenics? In Ethical Issues in
Scientific Research: An Anthology. Edward Erwin, Sidney Gendin, and Lowell
Kleiman, eds. New York, Garland Publishing, 1994, pp. 329-336.

Eugenics Makes a Comeback in the U.S. Bulletin of Medical Ethics 100: 6,
August 1994.

U.S. Supreme Court. Buck v. Bell. Supreme Court Reporter 47: 584-585, 1927.