In an era where reproductive rights are under intense scrutiny, it's worth revisiting a troubling chapter in history: the widespread practice of forced sterilization in the United States.

This controversial practice was institutionalized in the early 20th century and persisted for decades, leaving a dark legacy that still echoes today.

From 1907 to 1963, over 64,000 individuals, predominantly women, were forcibly sterilized under eugenics laws in the United States.1

An integral tool of the eugenics movement in the early 20th century United States, the sterilization laws were intended to prevent "inferior unfit specimens" from diluting "the superior American breeding stock," and thus portrayed those deemed unfit or at risk of being deemed unfit as morally depraved and perverse.1, 2

The targeted individuals included disabled persons, immigrants, "fallen women," women of color, and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. This deeply invasive practice violated their fundamental rights to bodily integrity, autonomy, and due process.

The two main ways in which the compulsory sterilization laws were disrespectful of women's rights were brought to the fore in Buck v. Bell (1927), where the Supreme Court ruled that compulsory sterilization of an "unfit" individual to protect state interests was constitutional.2

In 1924, the board of directors at a mental institution in Virginia issued an order to sterilize the 18-year-old resident Carrie Buck, who they considered to be a genetic threat to........

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