State Expresses Regret for Sterilizations 100 Years Later

Summary

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Indiana atoned Thursday for its role in pioneering the state- authorized sterilization of "imbeciles," paupers, criminals and others it deemed undesirable, expressing regret for passing the first such law 100 years ago.

Gov. J. Frank Hanly in 1907 signed the 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. Before ending the practice in 1974, Indiana sterilized about 2,500 people. Nationally, 65,000 people in 30 states were given vasectomies, tubal ligations and other operations in a eugenics movement that eventually reached horrific proportions in Nazi Germany.

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State Expresses Regret for Sterilizations 100 Years Later

"Indiana's role in the history of eugenics is one that we do need to acknowledge, we do need to learn from. It is one that we do regret but we should not forget," Health Commissio...

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