Eugenics: The Use Of Compulsory Sterilization

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Originally, sterilization was a medical procedure used to make women sterile whose life would be put at risk by future pregnancies. An estimate of 700,000 sterilizations are performed every year here in America (Zurawin, 2012). Eleven million women in America have used it as a means to avoid pregnancy, while one hundred ninety couples worldwide have used it to permanently take pregnancy out of the equation. Despite the purity of sterilization’s original intended use, it has been abused over the years. The malpractice of sterilization came in the form of compulsory sterilization. Compulsory sterilization is to force an individual to go through the procedure to become sterile. This form of sterilization was derived from the belief of Eugenics. …show more content…

A common practice of reinforcing eugenics is the discouragement of reproduction between people, who have genetic defects or presumed to have inheritable undesirable traits; in addition to, encouraging reproduction by people believed to have inheritable traits of optimal quality (Dictionary.com). The use of compulsory sterilization falls in line with the mindset of eugenics’ distaste and avoidance of reproduction occurring between two individuals with perceived genetic defects. For example, a man and women that each have a mental disorder and physical deficiency that runs in their families. These individuals would be deemed unworthy of conceiving a child. This belief lead to the mass sterilization in America, Germany, and Puerto Rico. There were 60,000 compulsory sterilizations in America from 1934 to the 1970's (Kaelber, 2009), 200,000 in Puerto Rico between 1936 and 1960, and 300,000 to 450,000 in Germany in 1945 …show more content…

Compulsory sterilization ruined the lives of 200,000 Puerto Rican women, which stood for a mind boggling eighty percent of the female population. Overpopulation was a serious issue in Puerto Rico from 1920 – 1960, and it became the motive the United States needed to apply the use of compulsory sterilization (Briggs, 2002). By 1930, it was believed that overpopulation and the overabundance of sexual proclivity behind it was the root cause behind the poverty epidemic of Puerto Rico. Around the same time the rate of male unemployment had increased by sixty percent. This only reinforced the belief that overpopulation was fueling the continuing increase of poverty. Later in the 1940’s, the belief of overpopulation being the source of poverty was countered because the capita income had doubled: in addition, it tripled in 1952 (Briggs,

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