Luke Sutton

After researching the case and the short and long-term effects that it caused I found the idea that a majority of states found the practice of sterilization acceptable enough to pass legislation in favor interesting to say the least. The eventual use of similar procedures by the Nazi party as a direct result of the Virginia procedure and ruling in my opinion creates an interesting example of American arrogance or at very least shows a clear short sighted mentality. After doing research I found that 30 states at the time of the Buck v. Bell case had passed legislation in favor of sterilization. It was not as if Virginia was on the fringe of the country on this topic, it was rather widely held that sterilization in an effort to prevent “feeble minded” persons from having children was a positive idea with merit. It was an idea that many people in the country saw as a useful way to handle these people and the idea of their procreating. Many influential people during the time even saw the procedure as a positive, such as Helen Keller. I think the Helen Keller example truly shows how much the entire country latched onto the idea of wiping out mental illness but taking away reproductive rights. When a woman who went through all the hardships that Keller did can come out and agree with legislation such as this it is clearly a popular and widely held idea. This thought process toward the so-called feeble minded during that time period interests me greatly. During Hitler’s reign many Americans saw many, if not all, of his actions to be morally reprehensible. Yet it was this same idea used in the Buck v. Bell case that was used by Hitler. The Nazi party would even directly give credit to acquiring the idea from the state of Virginia. While the Nazis would take it a step farther and sterilize people based on other factors than mentally ill, the principle of the idea remained in tact. Thinking about the fact that Hitler gleaned an idea from one of this countries practices would come as a shock and reality check to many people. It would not seem as odd to me if this was just one state with one crazy law that somehow had gotten passed, it would not be the first time one state had passed legislation that was a bit far fetching. But this was an idea that a majority of states agreed with and the highest governing justice body in the country upheld. Even as Hitler was using the practice it was not repealed in the United States. It was almost somewhat comical to me that while Americans abhorred the actions of Hitler, and rightly so, they did manage to ignore the fact that the idea had originated in their own back yard. While Buck v. Bell does seem like a ridiculous example of oversight but the supreme court in this day and age it certainly was not so during the time period. As often happens thoughts and opinion on certain topics change over time. It was most important for me while reading this case to consider the time period while learning of the facts and the ruling in situation. With any supreme court ruling the time period in which it was ruled is important, but more so in my opinion with the case of Buck v. Bell.