Pros And Cons Of Eugenics

Eugenics is referred to as the science of improving the human population by controlled breeding to increase the chances of desired qualities. Eugenics was intended to improve the human characteristics of those with valuable genes while discouraging the reproduction of those who possess hereditary defects. Some of the degenerative traits can be classified as mental illnesses, physical defects, inferior races, and even individuals who commit illegal acts. Certain states have these sterilization laws in place to ensure that the general public who are economically unstable do not procreate. Between the years of 1930 and 1974, the practice of genetic sterilization in North Carolina began to dramatically increase.
The term eugenics, known as in
As stated previously, people believed that positive eugenics would benefit future generations. Parents have the right to do what they feel that will be in the best interest of their children. This means that these parents had the choice of wanting to reproduce a child with desirable traits to prevent negative characteristics. Being able to enhance offspring was seen as a positive reinforcement for the population because it would produce a more gifted generation. In addition, various intellectual influences assumed that eugenics treated diseases (Goering, 2014). Since scientists had the ability to genetically manipulate heritable traits, those same traits that caused diseases were able to be controlled within the population. If a person did not have traces of diseases in their family medical history, they had the capability of reproducing with someone else with positive eugenics. However, if a person was detected of a disease, including mental illnesses, physical defects, and unlawful behavior, they were forcibly sterilized so that those negative eugenic traits would not spread throughout the
Even though many apologies were distributed, what else has the state done for the people of this tragedy? Governor Bev Purdue founded the N.C Justice for Sterilization Victims Foundation to provide equity and reimbursement for those affected by these sterilization procedures under the N.C Eugenics Board Program. This foundation serves as a primary resource for individuals who wrongfully sterilized; they are provided guidance when it comes to N.C sterilization laws (N.C Justice for Sterilization Victims Foundation, 2014). Originally, a fiscal amount of $10 million were to be allotted to compensate for the victims and $500,000 would be distributed individually but victims only received $200,000 (Cohen, 1970). According to the article by Eric Mennel, there were discrepancies with the compensation legislation. Only people that had their procedure done under the Eugenics Board of North Carolina were able to receive a pension of the fund (Mennel, 2014). This attempt to reimburse victims of eugenics was a decent one, but it still neglected the thousands of other people who were sterilized before the Eugenics Board was established, leaving them with nothing to compensate for their pain and