Eugenics and Bioethics: two interconnected histories

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Eugenics and Bioethicstwo interconnected
histories

• HSCI E137 Feb 2, 2011
• http//isites.harvard.edu/k78554
• Announcements
• After-class section meets tonight in G135
• Online section begins Sun Feb 6, 7-8 pm
• Introduce yourself on the website discussion forum

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Eugenics

• The term was coined by Galton in 1883 eugenics
  became a movement in the early twentieth century,
  in certain scientific and social contexts.
• Worked by using Mendelian templates both for
  physical and mental traits improvement of the
  race through better breeding.

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The Direct Cost of the Socially Inadequate To
New York State Popular article, 1928
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Eugenics tree logo, circa 1925
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The Burden of the Feeble-Minded (1913) Heredity
chart of Emma W, born February 11, 1889 (darkened
circles indicate mental defective)
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Positive eugenics the encouragement of the
breeding of the fit
Kansas State Free Fair, Topeka, Fitter Families
Contest examining staff and sweepstakes winning
family (1920)
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Negative eugenics prevention of the unfit from
breeding
Every 15 seconds 100 of your money goes for the
care of persons with bad heredity. Flashing
light sign used with small exhibits Fitter
Families Contest, 1926
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Negative eugenics laws

• Marriage restriction between the races
• Compulsory sterilization of degenerates
• Immigration restriction

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Dedicated institutions of eugenics

• Eugenics Record Office (Davenport and Laughlin)
• American Breeders Association
• Race Betterment Foundation

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Brochure, circa 1927, Eugenics Record
Office Every marriage is an experiment in
heredity.
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Eugenics laws

• Against race mixing
• Madison Grant, Passing of the Great Race (1916)
• Calvin Coolidge Biological laws tell us certain
  divergent people should not mix or blend.
• 1924 Virginia Racial Integrity Act

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The New Virginia Law To Preserve Racial
Integrity passed the House March 8, 1924, and is
now a law of the State. Virginia Health Bulletin
16 (March 1924)
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Eugenics laws

• Compulsory sterilization
• 1914, Laughlins Model Eugenical Sterilization
  Law
• 1924, Virginia passed Eugenical Sterilization Act
  based on Laughlins model law
• Challenged in Buck v. Bell (1927), but upheld by
  Supreme Court Holmes wrote Three generations
  of imbeciles are enough.

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Bar chart shows 21,539 sterilizations as of Jan
1, 1935 (Harry Laughlin papers, Truman State
University)
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Eugenics laws

• Immigration restriction
• 1924, Laughlin testified to Congress on an
  Immigration Restriction Bill-- resulted in Act of
  1924

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Reclaiming of eugenics in the 1960s

• Muller The odious perversions of the subject
  should not blind us longer to a set of hard
  truths and of genuine ethical values.If these
  truths are recognizedthey may open the way to an
  immeasurable extension and enhancement of the
  potentialities of human existence.
• (1961)

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Reclaiming eugenics

• Sinsheimer Today there is much talk about the
  possibility of human genetic modification. A new
  eugenics has arisen. For the first time in all
  time a living creature understands its origin and
  can undertake to design its future. (1969)

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Reclaiming eugenics

• Watson If we could honestly promise young
  couples that we knew how to give them offspring
  with superior character, why should we assume
  they would decline? Common sense tells us that
  if scientists find ways to greatly improve human
  capabilities, there would be no stopping the
  public from happily seizing them. (1996)

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History of bioethics

• First Code of Ethics of AMA (1847)
• Nuremberg Code (1947)
• Declaration of Helsinki (1964)
• The Tuskegee Syphilis Study (1932-1972)
• The Belmont Report (1979)

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History of bioethics

• Bioethics as reactive
• The historical trajectory from paternalism to
  empowerment
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks as a history
  of bioethics