Pros And Cons Of Eugenics

Eugenics, a science based on improving the human population and condition through selected reproduction, is rooted in widespread controversy and was practiced with abysmally horrid medical knowledge. Numerous issues, some as serious as the infamous Nazi Germany concentration camp systems, have surfaced across the early to mid - twentieth century, which serve as a constant reminder to the dangers of putting the task of bettering the human race into the wrong hands. Unfortunately, the science behind eugenics has the potential to be abused, and though history has shown eugenics in a positive light in a few instances, overwhelming evidence suggests that the method by which humanity can be improved should never be through the direct modification
The peer reviewed Quarterly Review of Biology states that the first of these laws were lobbied most ardently by state-employed physicians, but supporters also came from law, scientific, and political backgrounds (Reilly, 1987). Despite protests from anti-eugenics organizations, an upward trend in the popularity of negative eugenics still prevailed in at least several states, whose sterilization trends are shown by Lutz Kaelber, an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Vermont (Kaelber, 2012). The failure of these protests can be seen in the 1925 Supreme Court Decision, Buck v. Bell. In this landmark case, the practice of compulsory sterilization is upheld when the plaintiff, Carrie Buck, is deemed unfit to bear children (1925). This judicial decision shows the extent to which the ideology of the eugenics movement permeated the United States, which shows the negative impacts of attempting to better humanity through discriminatory practices. Eugenics, though first rooted in science, took a dark turn as seen with compulsory sterilization laws upheld in Buck v. Bell, which allowed for nearly 35,000 sterilizations of “undesirable persons” across the eugenics era in merely the five states of California, Minnesota, Iowa, Georgia, and North
Though positive eugenics—the encouragement of those with desirable traits to reproduce—was Germany’s first dip into the eugenics movement as per Garland E. Allen, Washington University professor, the idea of a master race came full force under the reign of Adolph Hitler (Allen, 2005). Hitler’s promotion of the ideal Aryan family led to discrimination against the Jewish people and other undesirable people such as the mentally disabled or handicapped. Hitler released numerous propagandistic posters to show the types of people he felt should procreate (Harris, 2006). Though the specific appearance of the Jews went against the Aryan face, Hitler’s “cleanse” of Germany did not stop with