Were Nazi sterilization policies influenced by US policies of that era?
By Christopher Hutton
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YES
In the early 20th century, U.S. social policies reflected an embrace of eugenics theories first espoused in the late 19th century. When the Nazis drafted forced-sterilization laws, their government lawyers referenced a 1924 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld U.S. sterilization laws. Hitler himself referenced U.S. laws in "Mein Kampf."
In 1907, Indiana passed the world's first involuntary sterilization law, which targeted criminals and the mentally ill. More than thirty states passed similar laws allowing their governments to sterilize patients in institutions like prisons and asylums in order to prevent "social undesirables" from procreating. A 1942 Supreme Court ruling declared forced sterilization laws unconstitutional.
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