145444 Looking back at Buck v. Bell

Monday, November 5, 2007: 10:45 AM

Paul Lombardo, PhD, JD , Center for Health, Law & Society, Georgia State University College of Law, Atlanta, GA
  
Few opinions in United States Supreme Court history are as shocking as the decision written by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in the 1927 case of Buck v. Bell. That lawsuit, which challenged a Virginia law allowing the state mandated sexual sterilization of epileptics, the mentally retarded and others judged “socially inadequate,” concluded with Holmes declaring: “Three generations of imbeciles are enough.” The Buck decision is unique in the history of medical jurisprudence as the only occasion in which the Supreme Court has endorsed surgery on unwilling patients as a tool of state public health policy. The Buck case provided a precedent that allowed the majority of American States--more than 30 by the late 1930s--to sterilize citizens suspected of posing a threat to the nation's gene pool. This session will explore the Buck case and its aftermath.

Learning Objectives:
The purpose is to provide historical analysis to remind of us past abuses and inform current work about reproductive rights. Organized by Alexandra M. Stern (who has previously presented on this topic in the Spirit of 1848 history session), the session will be introduced by Anne-Emanuelle Birn, from the Spirit of 1848 social history subcommittee, and will include presentations by: (1) Dr. Gregory Dorr, on ?Poor Women, Poor Choices: The Dilemma of Civil Rights and Reproductive Health in the 1970s? (focusing on the 1973 Relf case, about the wrongful sterilization of two African American teenagers in Alabama), (2) Dr. Paul Lombardo, on Looking Back at Buck v. Bell (the 1927 Supreme Court decision that allowed states to perform mandatory sexual sterilization of persons who were mentally retarded, epileptic or otherwise judged "socially inadequate" and (3) Dr. Elena Gutierrez, who as discussant will reflect on both the presented papers and the more recent US histories of policing reproduction, especially among women of color. Two Spirit of 1848 members, Emily Galpern and Birgit Remier, will work together with Alexandra Stern and the panelists to create a resource guide (listing books, articles, and websites) for current organizing around reproductive rights.

Keywords: Reproductive Health, Women's Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Policing Reproduction: Lessons and Legacies of Eugenic Sterilization
See more of: Spirit of 1848 Caucus