Eugenics: The History and Legacy of the Controversial Science

Introduction 

Eugenics aims to improve the composition of genes in the human race. Eugenics can be done to discourage the birth of people who have genetic disorders or undesirable hereditary characteristics. Also, eugenics can be done to encourage the delivery of people who are said to have desirable features. Eugenic has created more chaos than peace in society. According to ethics, people are considered valuable, and no one has the power to take someone’s life since they cannot create life. Eugenics, in the historical perspective, was used as a measure to eliminate people who were considered inferior in society. People who were considered sick or unable to take care of themselves were not permitted to get into some countries. Eugenics caused the sterilization of many people, especially those in mental hospitals or poor background. People in mental hospitals have high chances of getting well; therefore, sterilizing them is inhumane, for they may want to get children once they have healed. Eugenics also created racial discrimination since some leaders advocated for the killing of people from a particular race. In Germany, Adolf Hilter performed racial hygiene to eliminate Jews from his country. People with disabilities who were excluded through eugenics were essential people in society; they would have occupied prominent positions in society if they were left to live. Eugenics created more evil than good in the community; it restricted the movement of people, controlled people’s sexuality, and led to death and racial discrimination. 

Immigration Laws 

Eugenic laws were created to restrict immigration ("Social Origins of Eugenics", 2020).The United States of America Congress introduced the first naturalization law in 1790; this law limited the advantages of U.S. citizenship. The 1882 Act to Regulate the Immigration prevented people who were unable to take care of themselves from coming to America. The law was created to exclude foreign people who had undesirable conditions, they included former criminals, people with mental illnesses and the poor (Stern, 2016). The United States also designed the Chinese Exclusion Act to exclude immigrants basing on their race and ethnicity. Eugenics prompted the federal government of America to take a jurisdiction responsibility to observe immigration activities, this task was formerly delegated to states that had port cities. A depot was built on Ellis Island in the New York Harbor; to serve as a station where immigrants will be processed. Diseases such as smallpox, cholera and typhus broke out in America this subjected all immigrants to health scrutiny on arrival to the United States. Several organization in the United also increased the pressure to make immigration laws stricter. The campaigners for American worker wanted to prevent cheap foreign labor. Immigration Restriction League based in Boston wanted the government to subject foreigners to a literacy test and make it a condition for people who wanted to come into the United States. As the number of immigrants kept increasing in the U.S., the government kept making immigration laws stricter by introducing biological arguments to support their laws. The public health service with tasked with the responsibility of eliminating the “inferior stock” that entered America. 

Sterilization 

Eugenics was used to control the reproduction of people in the United States ("NPR Choice page", 2016). The state of Indiana passed the law of compulsory sterilization in 1907, and the other thirty states followed the lead. However, in 1921, the Indiana Supreme Court reversed the sterilization law. The U.S. Supreme Court supported the Virginia Sterilization Act of 1924, thus permitting doctors to sterilize patients in mental institutions. In some states, people who were considered “imbeciles” were sterilized around the 20th century. Between 1907 and 1963, the number of people who were sterilized was over sixty thousand, and the act was back by the eugenic legislation of the United States. Also, between 1930 and 1960s, a lot of women in mental institutions were forcibly sterilized. The United States government purported that there were important reasons why men and women were sterilized during those days. The sterilization of men was done to control aggression and prevent them from engaging in criminal behavior. Women, on the other hand, were sterilized to control their sexuality (Stern, 2016). Eugenicists blamed women for bearing children with less desirable characteristics; this was cited as another reason why some women need to be sterilized. The Eugenicists controlled the birth rates in women, protected the health of white people, and eliminated birth defectives from society. The act of making sterilization compulsory is perceived as abuse to human rights, and in the 1970s, women, right groups, and activists realized that some women were coerced to accept sterilization. The groups worked towards putting an end to forced sterilization. 

Anti-Semitism 

Eugenics created racial discrimination in Europe, especially during Hitler’s era ("The Horrifying American Roots of Nazi Eugenics | History News Network", 2020). During Hitler’s rule in Germany, he introduced Nazi Eugenics; this included racial policies that intended to improve the biological makeup of the Aryan race; this is also termed as racial hygiene. Eugenics in Germany during the Nazi period was the same as Eugenics in the United States, especially in California. The popularity of Eugenics was rose during the leadership of Adolf Hilter when wealthy Nazi supporters saw investment in it. Some of the Nazi Eugenic acts included forcing people to get sterilized(Capristo & Ialongo, 2019). The Prevention of Hereditary Diseased Offspring law was enacted in 1933; the law permitted compulsory sterilization of citizens who were diagnosed with genetic disorders. Also, physicians were required to register any case genetics issues they observed from their patients. Physicians who did not comply with this law were fined. When the law had operated for nearly one year, over four thousand people portrayed that the law was unfair and wanted the government to end it, but their pleas were not heard. Towards the end of the Nazi rule, four hundred thousand people were forcibly sterilized in German. The German government, during the Hilter’s rule, set aside Eugenic institutions, for example, the Hadamar clinic was controlled by the government. The government also controlled the Hartheim Euthanasia Centre, and people who were perceived as disabled were killed in the institution. The patients were killed using carbon monoxide gas, and some were transported in buses where gases were passed through the interior of the buses killing passengers. 

Conclusion 

Eugenics denied many people opportunities in society since it created discrimination, deaths, and curtailed the movement of people. The United States of America created a law in 1882 to control the movement of immigrants. The law excluded people who were considered to be poor, criminals, and disabled. Also, when there an outbreak of diseases in America, the government subjected immigrants getting to America to health scrutiny to determine whether they had proper health conditions. Also, eugenics was a tool used to control the sexuality of people in the U.S.; people in the mental institution were forcibly sterilized and the number of people. The government of the United States claimed that it sterilized men to control their aggression, and women were sterilized to prevent them from giving birth to children with congenital disabilities. The sterilized was sometimes done through coercion on some women. Eugenics in Germany led to the loss of many lives. The government of Germany designed a law that prevented the birth of offspring with hereditary diseases and permitted the elimination of people from a particular ethnic group. During Hitler’s time, doctors were forced to record the number of genetic defects they came across; also, people suffering from mental illnesses were killed. All these acts were abused human rights. 

References 

Capristo, A., & Ialongo, E. (2019). On the 80th anniversary of the Racial Laws. Articles reflecting the current scholarship on Italian Fascist anti-Semitism in honour of Michele Sarfatti.  Journal Of Modern Italian Studies ,  24 (1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/1354571x.2019.1550695 

NPR Choice page . Npr.org. (2016). Retrieved 30 March 2020, from https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/03/07/469478098/the-supreme-court-ruling-that-led-to-70-000-forced-sterilizations. 

Social Origins of Eugenics . Eugenicsarchive.org. (2020). Retrieved 30 March 2020, from http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/html/eugenics/essay9text.html. 

Stern, A. (2016). Eugenics, sterilization, and historical memory in the United States.  História, Ciências, Saúde-Manguinhos ,  23 (suppl 1), 195-212. https://doi.org/10.1590/s0104-59702016000500011 

The Horrifying American Roots of Nazi Eugenics | History News Network . Historynewsnetwork.org. (2020). Retrieved 30 March 2020, from https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/1796 .