![Southwestern Lunatic Asylum](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Southwestern_Lunatic_Asylum.jpg)
The Virginia Sterilization Act of 1924 was a
U.S. state law in Virginia for the sterilization of institutionalized persons "afflicted with hereditary forms of insanity that are recurrent, idiocy, imbecility, feeble-mindedness or epilepsy”. It greatly influenced the development of
eugenics
Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior o ...
in the twentieth century. The act was based on model legislation written by
Harry H. Laughlin and challenged by a case that led to the
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
decision of ''
Buck v. Bell
''Buck v. Bell'', 274 U.S. 200 (1927), is a decision of the United States Supreme Court, written by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., in which the Court ruled that a state statute permitting compulsory sterilization of the unfit, including th ...
''. The Supreme Court upheld the law as
constitutional
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these prin ...
and it became a
model law
A model act, also called a model law or a piece of model legislation, is a suggested example for a law, drafted centrally to be disseminated and suggested for enactment in multiple independent legislatures. The motivation classically has been the ...
for
sterilization laws in other states.
Justice Holmes wrote that a patient may be sterilized "on complying with the very careful provisions by which the act protects the patients from possible abuse." Between 1924 and 1979, Virginia sterilized over 7,000 individuals under the act. The act was never declared unconstitutional; however, in 2001, the
Virginia General Assembly
The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 16 ...
passed a
joint resolution apologizing for the misuse of "a
respectable, 'scientific' veneer to cover activities of those who held blatantly
racist views."
In 2015, the Assembly agreed to compensate individuals sterilized under the act.
Historical background
Laughlin's Model Eugenical Sterilization Law
![Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Virginia_State_Colony_for_Epileptics_and_Feebleminded.jpg)
During the early 20th century, Harry H. Laughlin, director of the Eugenics Record Office at
Cold Spring Harbor, New York
Cold Spring Harbor is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Huntington, in Suffolk County, on the North Shore of Long Island in New York. As of the 2010 United States census, the CDP population was 5,070.
History
Cold Spri ...
, became concerned that states were not enforcing their eugenics laws. In 1922, he published his book, ''Eugenical Sterilization in the United States'', which included a "MODEL EUGENICAL STERILIZATION LAW" in Chapter XV.
By 1924, 15 states had enacted similar legislation; however, unlike Virginia, many or most or all of those states failed to rigidly enforce their laws requiring specific qualities in all persons seeking to marry. Forced sterilization, however, was much more common. By 1956, twenty-four states had laws providing for involuntary sterilization on their books. These states collectively reported having forcibly sterilized 59,000 people over the preceding 50 years.
Virginia implemented Laughlin's "Model Eugenical Sterilization Law" with little modification two years after it was published.
Text from the 1924 Act
Sterilization law after 1988
An act, passed by the
General Assembly of Virginia
The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, ...
in 1988 and amended in 2013, provides the procedural requirements necessary for a physician to lawfully sterilize a patient capable of giving informed consent and incapable of giving informed consent.
A physician may perform a sterilization procedure on a patient if the patient is capable of giving informed consent, the patient consents to the procedure in writing, and the physician explains the consequences of the procedure and alternative methods of contraception.
A court may authorize a physician to perform a sterilization on a mentally incompetent adult or child after the procedural requirements are met and the court finds with clear and convincing evidence the patient is or is likely to engage sexual activity, no other contraceptive is reasonably available, the patient's mental disability renders the patient permanently unable to care for a child, and the procedure conforms with medical standards.
Apology and compensation
Legislative history
In February 2001, the
Virginia General Assembly
The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 16 ...
passed a
joint resolution, introduced by
Mitchell Van Yahres
Mitchell Van Yahres (October 21, 1926 – February 8, 2008) was an American politician. A Democrat, he was mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia
from 1970 to 1972, and served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1981 to 2005.
Political career ...
, expressing regret for Virginia's experience with eugenics.
In the 2002 session, Van Yahres introduced a joint resolution honoring the memory of Carrie Buck. This joint resolution was passed by the House and Senate in February 2002. In the same year,
Bob Marshall, introduced a joint resolution referencing the 2001 eugenics resolution and calling for the establishment of a subcommittee to study issues related to stem cell research; however, this resolution did not pass the Rules committee. In 2013 and 2014, Marshall introduced the Justice for Victims of Sterilization Act to give compensation for up to $50,000 per person; however, the bill did not get past the Appropriations committee in either year. In 2015, Patrick A. Hope reintroduced the Justice for Victims of Sterilization Act, and although the Act did not get past the Appropriations committee, an amendment was added to the budget bill to give compensation of up to $25,000 per person who was "involuntarily sterilized pursuant to the Virginia Eugenical Sterilization Act."
Eligibility for compensation
The legislature authorized compensation of up to $25,000 per claim to provide compensation for individuals sterilized "pursuant to the Virginia Eugenical Sterilization Act and who were living as of February 1, 2015." If the person died on or after February 1, 2015, a claim may be submitted by the estate or personal representative of the person who died.
See also
*
Racial Integrity Act of 1924
In 1924, the Virginia General Assembly enacted the Racial Integrity Act. The act reinforced racial segregation by prohibiting interracial marriage and classifying as "white" a person "who has no trace whatsoever of any blood other than Caucasia ...
*
''Poe v. Lynchburg Training School & Hospital''
References
{{Virginia Women in History
History of racism in Virginia
Eugenics in the United States
Mental health law in the United States
Reproductive rights in the United States
Virginia law