Carrie Buck
In 1926, Carrie Buck, a Virginia resident, was selected to be forcibly sterilized by the State of Virginia under their eugenic sterilization laws. Albert S. Priddy, the man in charge of the sterilization efforts used her to test the constitutionality of the 1924 law before utilizing them extensively, and made sure the sterilization order was appealed to the supreme court, so as to best cement the power of the state to do so for the future, should it be deemed constitutionally acceptable (Wolfe).
The professed reason for Buck’s sterilization was that she was deemed ‘promiscuous’ by state authorities and eugenic experts. In reality, she had been raped by the cousin of her foster parents. Regardless, she was deemed worthy for removal from the gene pool, so as not to pass on her genes of ‘feeblemindedness’ and ‘degeneracy.’ In the famous Supreme Court decision,Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr, court justice, declared in the majority opinion piece that both Buck’s biological mother and grandmother shared her degenerate traits, and that “Three generations of imbeciles are enough.” Thus, by a vote of eight justices to one, the sterilization of Carrie Buck was upheld, and the Virginia laws, which were based on those set forth by Harry Laughlin, were taken up and used by other states who looked to sterilize individuals, leading to a large increase of the rate of such procedures (Wolfe).
The professed reason for Buck’s sterilization was that she was deemed ‘promiscuous’ by state authorities and eugenic experts. In reality, she had been raped by the cousin of her foster parents. Regardless, she was deemed worthy for removal from the gene pool, so as not to pass on her genes of ‘feeblemindedness’ and ‘degeneracy.’ In the famous Supreme Court decision,Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr, court justice, declared in the majority opinion piece that both Buck’s biological mother and grandmother shared her degenerate traits, and that “Three generations of imbeciles are enough.” Thus, by a vote of eight justices to one, the sterilization of Carrie Buck was upheld, and the Virginia laws, which were based on those set forth by Harry Laughlin, were taken up and used by other states who looked to sterilize individuals, leading to a large increase of the rate of such procedures (Wolfe).