Eugenics Pros And Cons

Eugenics is “the study of human heredity and genetic principles for the purposes of improving the human race by limiting the proliferation of defective gene pools” (Polirstok, 2011). In other words, Davenport wanted the law to be passed to be able to sterilize the mentally ill so that they were unable to continue populating the world with other mentally ill people. Charles Davenport, the founder of the American eugenics movement, was one of many Americans that were really pushing for this new form of “science" to take over and become a popular trend among our government. Davenport believed by using eugenics that he could help rid the world of the mentally ill people so our world would be less full of crime and poor people. He believed that
Bell. Carrie Buck was 18 years old when she was in Foster care and her foster mother’s nephew had rapped her and she had become pregnant. Buck had an I.Q. of about fifty and a mental age of only nine years old so when she became pregnant she was admitted into an institution for people that were considered feebleminded, or mentally retarded. While in the institution the State of Virginia had passed a law to sterilize any person that entered their facility in fear that they would continue on the family trait of having mentally defective children. Bucks child was considered mentally retarded after only one month of living and this decision was based only on her mother having mental problems. Buck of course wanted to fight this decision and got an attorney which argued that by sterilizing Buck and taking away her right to bear children was a violation of her fourteenth amendment right and that the cutting of her Fallopian tubes was a violation of the constitutional right of bodily integrity. They also argued that by doing this procedure it was not going to benefit Miss Buck or anyone in society for that matter and was also taking away her right to her own
They believed that by sterilizing people that they were saving unborn children from a life of crime and torment. People believed that our society would be much better off and we would be helping our government by getting rid of potentially dangerous and cruel people that they believed would become future criminals because of their mental status. They also argued that they were saving these feebleminded people not only leading a life of crime but also saving them from the troubles and suffering of having to try to take care of themselves or a child of their own, they believed that they were saving them from having to endure these troubles throughout their life. In 1927 the court had ruled in favor of the courts and in 1928 Carrie Buck was sterilized. This decision would eventually be overturned but it took fifteen years to get the law changed. The law was overturned because of the case Skinner v. Oklahoma. This case was overturned on the grounds that the latter violated the basic civil rights of Carrie Buck to procreate if she chose to do so. Even though this decision was eventually overturned, Carrie Buck along with thousands of other feebleminded Americans was victims of this senseless crime that was brought on by our own society and our own court