There are no more children with Down Syndrome in Iceland. At least, almost none. Depending on where you are in the world, and when in time, a certain explanation might come to mind. Were this the mid-20th century, or in several authoritarian regimes around the world, we might expect that this result was achieved through […]
Tag: eugenics
America’s Forgotten History of Forced Sterilization
In early September, a nurse working at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Georgia came forward with shocking allegations of medical neglect and abuse, claiming that numerous involuntary hysterectomies (uterus removal surgeries) were performed on detained immigrant women. This allegation understandably evoked fury and outrage among the general public, with numerous people […]
Modern Eugenics in California
“Eugenics is the science of improving the human species.” In the late 19th century, British scholar Francis Galton introduced and propagated his theory of eugenics. Galton urged European and American governments to attempt to improve the human race by ‘breeding out’ undesirable traits. Eugenics was carried out in several ways: forced sterilization, legal policy preventing […]
The Legacy of American Eugenics
Recently the American eugenics movement was brought back into the news by Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson, who claimed that Planned Parenthood’s founder Margaret Sanger had created her organization in an effort to control the black population. While this claim is not entirely true, Carson does bring attention to a rarely-discussed American injustice. Throughout the […]