Rucker: More "Eugenic Laws' 



223 



are stipulated, a majority of the board 

 of control must approve, and relatives 

 or guardian of the patient must give 

 their written consent. Obviously, this 

 is a tremendous modification of the 

 present law, and one in the right direc- 

 tion, although the inclusion of syphilitics 

 in the classes which may be sterilized 

 seems to the writers absolutely inde- 

 fensible. Syphilis being a curable 

 disease, there is no more reason for 

 sterilizing a person with syphilis than a 

 person \Aath typhoid fever. The new 

 bill also contains a provision that any 

 person performing a sterilization opera- 

 tion except as provided for in this law 

 shall be fined not more than $1,000 or 

 imprisoned not more than one year in 

 the penitentiary, or both. Were it not 

 for this clause and the inclusion of 

 syphilitics, the writers would favor the 

 repeal of Iowa's present law and the 

 adoption of this proposed measure; 

 under the circumstances, it is hoped 

 that this new proposal, unless amended 

 will be defeated, and the old one repealed 

 or allowed to rest in abeyance until a 

 measure framed on more sensible lines 

 can be introduced. 



All things considered, the measures 

 now pending in these four States do not 

 indicate that the general public has 

 been very well educated as to the 

 possibilities and requirements of legisla- 

 tion to ]3romote eugenics. A careful 

 reading of the report of the Committee^ 

 which has been at work on the subject 

 since 1911, under the chairmanship of 

 Bleecker Van Wagenen, would show 

 the proponents of these measures that 

 they are in many cases far from the 

 track marked out by genetics. And 

 genetists are very strongly of the 

 opinion that this is a subject on which 

 they have the right to be heard. 



"eugenic marriage laws" 



But if legislative tendencies toward 

 sterili2ation at the present time are of 

 little value to the science of eugenics, 

 certainly still less can be said for the 

 widespread attempt to control marriage 



by various legislative devices. Bills 

 which arc hailed by the press and public 

 as being "eugenic marriage laws" are 

 now pending in the legislatures of nine 

 States. In nearly every case these are 

 wholly measures of social hygiene rather 

 than eugenics ; they are usually intended 

 to aid in the campaign against venereal 

 disease. The writers are in complete 

 sympathy with this campaign, but not 

 with its masquerade as a eugenic affair. 

 The prevention of venereal disease is a 

 matter of hygiene which lies in the 

 field of public health; it has nothing 

 whatever to do with eugenics, as 

 venereal diseases are not hereditary and 

 eugenics is concerned with heredity, not 

 personal hygiene. The science of eugen- 

 ics has plenty of work on its hands, 

 without invading the field of preventive 

 medicine, and it has already suftcred 

 enough in popular estimation through 

 its undesired connection with sex hy- 

 giene. It is the duty of every eugenist 

 vigorously to repudiate such bills as 

 those which follow, in so far as they are 

 represented to be eugenic laws; no 

 matter how heartily he may indorse 

 some or all of them as hygienic laws. 



How far removed they are from the 

 legitimate field of eugenics will best be 

 seen by a review of them. Vermont 

 has led the way with a bill passed by 

 both houses of the legislature and ap- 

 proved by the governor on March 11. 

 1915, which provides a heavy fine or jail 

 sentence for any person who, knowing 

 himself to be infected with gonorrhea or 

 syphilis, either marries or has sexual 

 intercourse. Any physician treating a 

 patient infected with a venereal disease 

 must report the name, address, age and 

 sex of such patient to the State Board of 

 Health; he is paid $0.25 if he does and 

 is fined $200 if he does not. The State 

 Board of Health is empowered to make 

 and enforce such rules and regulations for 

 quarantining and treatment of venereal 

 diseases as are deemed necessary. With 

 the merits of this new law, the writers 

 are not here concerned; they wish 



3 Report of the Committee to Study and to Report on the Best Practical Means of Cutting Off 

 the Defective Germ-Plasm in the American Population. Eugenics Record Office, Cold Spring 

 Harbor. New York. February, 1914. Bulletin lOA, The Scope of the Committee's Work; Bulletin 

 lOB, The Legal, Legislative and Administrative Aspects of Sterilization; both by Harry H. 

 Laughlin, secretary of the committee. 



