Posted by
vikingmother on Wednesday, May 30, 2007 8:34:47 PM
It started in 1907.
Indiana became the nation's leader in forced sterilizations of those it considered "inferior" morally or physically.
And Indiana's state health commissioner apologized recently---as Indiana marked the 100th year anniversary of this "first in the nation" sterilization law.
"In 1907, then-Gov. J. Frank Hanly signed a state law widely regarded as the first in the world to permit sterilization in a misguided effort to improve the quality of the human race.The practice was not ended until 1974."
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3036919
A creepy footnote - A woman sterilized (as a teen---and without her knowledge) joined in a ceremony where the State of Indiana dedicated a marker to remind people of this bad law
...only overturned in the 1970's. (Her mom had told the state she was slightly retarded. She thinks Mom was scared she'd get pregnant.)