While reading the article on birth control and sterilization, I found myself particularly blown away by the dates of different rulings. The range of dates was between 1924 and 1978 which seems incredibly recent. It was hard to believe that the the abuse of sterilizations occurred only a few decades ago. I was angered when reading that many women were violated in hospitals when going in for different procedures. I found it bold of the group of medical students who reported that the Boston City Hospital was performing excessive and medically unnecessary hysterectomies on black patients. For these procedures to be performed without consent and then in order to educate the medical students, really makes me question the validity of the doctors themselves. As a student who is interested in going into healthcare, it is upsetting to see that my personal motives to help people are not always shared by others. I cannot understand the reasoning of a doctor to go against their patient's will.
Even the Supreme Court rulings were outrageous in the early 20th century. To permit sterilization of "potential parents of socially inadequate offspring," makes me question who gets to decide who is normal or not. Sterilization is a severe punishment for those who cannot change their social status and is definitely not the best way to enforce birth control. Sterilization cannot be reversed and thus it is too harsh of a practice. In the Buck vs Bell ruling I think it is unfair to prevent people from procreating if they are found to be less intelligent. The desire to "prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind...because 3 generations of imbeciles is enough" is a ridiculous statement to make. How can you predict if an offspring will prevent society from progressing? I can understand wanting to better society and different racial groups but I do not think that sterilization is the best option.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I agree with the question of who gets to decide on what's "socially unfit" or what prevents society from progressing. Unless someone has the ability to see into the future, things like this cannot be determined objectively or scientifically.
Even if this were possible, it is still immoral and inhumane to sterilize another individual. I feel like it's the same as taking away their liberties, their freedom. I don't understand why more people didn't protest at the glaring fallacies of such arguments.
The process of sterilization amazes me in that the effects are essentially permanent. The article pointed out at the end that the government could have diverted spending towards birth control methods instead of sterilization. This had totally skipped my attention before. Why is the government so much more willing to support sterilizations over birth control? Are the undesirable groups of people too mentally handicapped to understand the virtue of birth control? I too was amazed by the audacity of hospitals allowing their residents to perform unnecessary and dangerous operations for the sake of experience and funding. I also comment the medical students who stepped up to the plate and reported these actions to others. The medical field is filled with information that could make the whole field seem evil.
It is really sad to see that sterilization was one of the common methods which doctors used two ot three centuries ago. It is also disappointing that this form of birth control was not controlled which makes it even worse. Experimentations which scientists used to exercise to their patients represent their brutallity. All these evidences which we have from the past or even today make me feel depressed. I cannot really imagine about these people's feelings. I think that every human being should be free and has the right to live his or her own life.
Post a Comment