In an earlier blog post, I mentioned Clarence Thomas’s misuse of Adam Cohen’s book, Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck. Thomas had essentially reversed the connection between eugenics and abortion. When this book first came out a few years ago, I had wanted to read it, but never did, so Thomas’s misleading use of it prompted me to actually purchase and start reading.

Although I’m only about a third of the way through it, it’s as good as advertised, and anyone interested in eugenics and its implementation in the US should pick it up. Especially striking to me is the kind of people who were serious promoters of eugenics – that is, progressives and the scientific establishment. This hits me at the core of who I am – a progressive supporter of science!

I first read about this issue when I was just a kid and read this Washington Post article, from February 1980, by Sandra G. Boodman and Glenn Frankel.

Their article talks about the more than 7,500 people in Virginia sterilized, often without consent or even knowledge of what was happening to them.

The most moving part of the article are the quotes from Doris Buck Figgins (younger sister of Carrie Buck), who tried for years to have children, not knowing she was sterilized without her consent. “’They told me the operation was for an appendix and rupture,’ said Figgins.”

Sterilizations in Virginia continued into the 1970s. 

To overturn Buck v. Bell, the ACLU and the ACLU of Virginia filed a class action lawsuit to have the court declare that the sterilization program violated the victims’ constitutional rights and prohibit further sterilizations without informed consent.

Connection between Eugenics and Abortion Today

Flash-forward to today and the government still tries to control women’s reproduction. While the mechanism has changed (i.e., forcing women to give birth rather than sterilization), the elitism and misogyny hasn’t. As I mentioned earlier, Clarence Thomas reverses the connection between eugenics and abortion; he claims that the pro-choice movement is like the eugenicists of the past, but it’s really the opponents of abortion who are trying to control women’s bodies.

To me, that’s the most important part of the story. We still need to fight these attempts to pass laws that would control a person’s very body.