Sexual sterilization for mental deficiency?

www.springerlink.com...

I read this and couldn't believe that this was even a consideration for dealing with such a conjectured description of a medical "condition". I discovered that a Sexual Sterilization Act existed in Alberta, Canada, which aimed to reduce successful sexual intercourse with immigrants who had failed a screening test and were deemed "mentally deficient". And although the document linked above was first published in 1930, the Canadian "Act" was only repealed in 1978, which is (relatively) recent. I'm sure many of the members of this board were born after that date.

Although this appears to be a product of a modernist eugenic movement, and could only possibly arise in the so called "developed" nations, do sexual sterilization programs exist in any other recently modernized states? It would be interesting to see if China or India, being such large countries, have policies regarding the selective reproduction of humans.

[edit on 8-9-2008 by cognoscente]

Hello, I am from Canada as well, I was born well after that It was removed but i heard about this, Eugenics was also popular in the U.S. Take a look at Alex's Jones: End Game, you will find good information regarding this sick ideology.

Fear mongers like Alex Jones have taken the practice of any form of eugenics and blown the issue way out of proportion.

First of all, you haven't read the entire paper, you read the conclusion. Therefor how can you judge the extent of the mental illness to which this would apply?

If you had an individual, who at birth, suffered from multiple mental illnesses such as downs syndrome and Mowat-Wilson or Torretts; with profound mental retardation (IQ under 20), you would think it would be fair to this persons children to afflict them with the same? If their partener was also affected by mental illness which of course they would be, it's certain that they would suffer the same or worse.

If the person considering having children were fully competent they would obviously choose not to force their suffering onto a new life, but they aren't capable of seeing their choice for what it is.

This paper is not talking about "stupid" people, such a paper would never even get published today, don't be so foolish. It's only talking about the most severe cases where it would be cruel and unusual to bring a life into the world that would certainly suffer a great deal, likely not survive at all. If it did, it's parents would not be able to care for it and it would immediately become under the care of health professionals which would continue through it's entire life.

The old eugenics laws, later "borrowed" by Hitler and his entourage and widely used in Hitler germany. It seems Hitler got most of his lunatic ideas from this side of the pond.

[devil's advocate]
We need licences for everything from fishing, to driving, to firearms, to dog-ownership, yet anyone can get-it-on and create a child...a child-licence should be the way forward in this vastly overpopulated world, and if a couple is not mentally capable of looking after themselves, then a licence to have a child should be refused
[/devils advocate]

[edit on 8-9-2008 by citizen smith]

Originally posted by ANoNyMiKE
Fear mongers like Alex Jones have taken the practice of any form of eugenics and blown the issue way out of proportion.

First of all, you haven't read the entire paper, you read the conclusion. Therefor how can you judge the extent of the mental illness to which this would apply?

If you had an individual, who at birth, suffered from multiple mental illnesses such as downs syndrome and Mowat-Wilson or Torretts; with profound mental retardation (IQ under 20), you would think it would be fair to this persons children to afflict them with the same? If their partener was also affected by mental illness which of course they would be, it's certain that they would suffer the same or worse.

Uhm... I'm fairly certain people with mental illnesses don't get lucky. Ok, I get your point.

Besides that paper, the Sexual Sterilization Act of Alberta was sterilizing alcoholics and get this, prostitutes. Apparently people who are disposed to selecting prostitution as a career have a genetic deficiency.

[edit on 9-9-2008 by cognoscente]

Please, just don't Muppet for us, as the entertainment would be vaguely reminiscent.

But, hauled within confines among lazy, screaming walls; sometimes the bottom of it is rather, shall we say, large.

There U go, again...