Fit to Breed? Symposium and exhibit mark the 100-year anniversary of eugenics law in Indiana.

In April 1907, Gov. Frank Hanly signed the Compulsory Sterilization Law of Indiana, the world's first eugenic sterilization law. The legislation provided for involuntary sterilization “to prevent procreation of confirmed criminals, idiots, imbeciles, and rapists.” It stood until 1927, when the Indiana Supreme Court found the law unconstitutional and enacted a revised bill. Before that law was repealed in 1974, more than 2,300 of Indiana's most vulnerable citizens in state custody were involuntarily sterilized. The state also established a Committee on Mental Defectives that carried out eugenic family studies in more than 20 counties and was home to an active "better babies" movement that encouraged scientific motherhood and infant hygiene as routes to human improvement.

This dark and little-known period of Indiana history is the subject of a public symposium and exhibit held this month in Indianapolis. Both events focus on the relevance of the history of sterilization and other eugenic measures to contemporary issues in human genetics, public health, reproductive health, mental health, and the law.

“Eugenics has long occupied a frightening place in the history of medicine and science, from the Nazi death camps to the maltreatment of patients with mental disorders,” says Eric Meslin, director of the IU Center for Bioethics and assistant dean for bioethics at the IU School of Medicine, a participant in the symposium. “We are only now beginning to study state-sponsored eugenics programs in the U.S. What we learn from the past will help society make better decisions about how best to use the power of science for the good of humanity in the future.”

The public symposium, “Indiana Eugenics: History and Legacy,” takes place at the Indiana State Library in Indianapolis on April 12 from 8:30 a.m. to noon. The event features talks by historian Daniel Kevles, of Yale University, and Joe Palca, science journalist for National Public Radio. It is sponsored by the IU School of Medicine and the Schools of Law and Liberal Arts at IUPUI. The exhibit, featuring original historic documents, opens at the Indiana State Library on April 12 and is free and open to the public through August 2007.

William Schneider, professor of history, chair of international health-care philanthropy, and director of the medical humanities program at IUPUI, is the principal director and coordinator for projects marking the 100 th anniversary of Indiana's eugenics legislation. The centenary events also include a book, Indiana and the Legacy of State and Local Eugenics, 1907-2007 ; articles on the history of eugenics in Indiana in the Indiana Magazine of History ; digitally archived materials made available to the public and research community; and a state historic marker intended to acknowledge and spur greater public awareness of Indiana's eugenics legislation.

Funding for the project was provided by the IU New Frontiers grant program; the Program in Medical Humanities-Health Studies and the Department of History in the IUPUI School of Liberal Arts; the Herron School of Art and Design at IUPUI; and the Departments of Pediatrics and Medical and Molecular Genetics and the IU Center for Bioethics at the IU School of Medicine.

For more information, visit www.bioethics.iupui.edu/eugenics/index.htm.