An act concerning operations for the prevention of procreation

An act concerning operations for the prevention of procreation

Connecticut General Assembly

Eugenics

Eugenics--Law and legislation

Laws (documents)

A bill for the sterilization of inmates of prisons and insane hospitals “by whom procreation would be inadvisable” was introduced into the Connecticut legislature by Representative Wilbur F. Tomlinson in February, 1909. The bill passed both the House and Senate in July and was approved by the Governor on August 12, 1909. Connecticut was one of the first states to adopt such a law, following Indiana in 1907.

In a 1910 letter to George W. Gay, Dr. William Henry Carmalt of New Haven stated, “Unless such a law is in the hands of those willing to accept the responsibilities of their positions, it becomes a dead letter. I hope the next Legislature can be induced to put the carrying out of the law in more earnest hands. The real trouble, however, with the whole matter is the absence of statistics in the genealogical histories of inmates, principally of insane asylums and almshouses, for it [is] from them rather than the prisons that the degenerates breed.”

House Bill number 123 of the Connecticut General Assembly, "An act concerning operations for the prevention of procreation", presented in 1909

Connecticut General Assembly

1909

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Gay, George W. (George Washington), 1842-1931 Papers, ca.1906-1920 (inclusive). GA 31

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excerpt (1 page)

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0002112

From the Archives of Harvard Medical School