This month marks the 80 th anniversary of Buck v. Bell , the notorious Supreme Court decision that legitimized forced sterilization laws which had been proliferating in the states. Addressing the Virginia law that allowed the forced sterilization of "mental defectives," Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote for the Court, "It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind.Three generations of imbeciles are enough."

Forced sterilization campaigns were a cornerstone of the growing "negative eugenics" movement in early 20 th century America (state records indicate that ultimately over 60,000 people were forcibly sterilized in the United States under the various state laws). The widespread social acceptance of eugenics was promoted by the American Eugenics Society through various programs that included such things as supporting eugenics research, disseminating eugenics information, sponsoring popular "fitter families" contests, and encouraging religious sermons on the topic.

In 1924, the U.S. Congress passed the restrictive Johnson Immigration Act relying on federally funded research and testimony by eugenic activist Dr. Harry Laughlin. (Laughlin drafted the model sterilization law adopted by Virginia , and ultimately by Nazi Germany.) The Act established limiting quotas against what Laughlin advised were racially inferior immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe , especially Jews, whose mixing with the anglo-saxon population was undesirable. When President Coolidge signed the Act, he said " America must remain American."

In light of contemporary efforts that include managing or rationing health care (such as for the elderly, or in the difficult determination of "futile treatment"), promotion of assisted-suicide or euthanasia, pre-natal genetic counseling,  pre-implantation genetic screening of human embryos, and in-utero testing for Down Syndrome, a re-examination of the American eugenics movement in the early 20 th century can be a timely and enlightening reminder of the potential pitfalls and disasters that can accompany our rush to alleviate human suffering and perfect human nature. 

Peter F. Ryan, S.J., is associate professor of Moral Theology at Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg , Md. , where he also does spiritual direction and formation advising. A priest of the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus, he was ordained in 1987 and received his S.T.D. from the Gregorian University in Rome in 1996. He has written articles on a variety of topics, including bioethics, academic freedom in the Catholic university, and the relationship between moral action and ultimate human fulfillment. Fr. Ryan is presently working on a book on the theology of heaven and hell and its significance for the new evangelization.

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