Breeding Contempt: The History of Coerced Sterilization in the United States
Mark A. Largent
Rutgers University Press
Widespread coercive sterilization programs are most closely associated with   the Nazis and World War II atrocities. Less frequently are they recognized   as efforts that were undertaken by American lawmakers, scientists, and   health care providers. Mark A. Largent explores the history of compulsory   sterilization in the United States by examining the assumptions and   motivations that led to the coerced sterilization of tens of thousands of   Americans during the twentieth century.     <P>  The book begins in the mid-nineteenth century, when American medical   doctors began advocating the sterilization of citizens they deemed   degenerate. By the turn of the twentieth century, physicians, biologists,   and social scientists championed the cause, and lawmakers in two-thirds of   the United States enacted laws that required the sterilization of various   criminals, mental health patients, epileptics, and syphilitics. The   movement lasted well into the latter half of the century, and Largent shows   how even today the sentiments that motivated coerced sterilization persist   as certain public figures advocate compulsory birth control--such as   progesterone shots for male criminals or female welfare recipients--based   on the same notions and prejudices that had brought about thousands of   coerced sterilizations decades ago.