{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.022864828513786146, 'fraction_numerical': 0.01815736381977135, 'mean_word_length': 5.469565217391304, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
The Surgical Solution: The Writings of Activist Physicians in the Early Days of Eugenical Sterilization


 A belief in the heritability of degeneracy and the extreme fecundity of degenerate persons emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Concern that an ever-greater proportion of the population would be burdened with defective germ plasm and an ever-rising portion of the nation's wealth would be diverted to covering the costs of the behavior and institutional care of these persons led to the formulation of 4 alternative solutions: marriage restriction laws, indefinite segregation in institutions, castration, and sterilization. This paper examines the role played by physicians in the development of a eugenical sterilization policy. In the 1907-13 period, 12 states (Indiana, Washington, California, Connecticut, Nevada, Iowa, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Michigan, Kansas, and Wisconsin) enacted sterilization laws. A review of the medical journals from this period suggests that a handful of activist physicians were outspoken lobbyists for involuntary sterilization. They educated their profession about the need for social control measures to stop the spread of defective germ plasm and frequently exaggerated the curative powers of vasectomy in this regard. Despite physicians' efforts, only 1422 sterilizations of institutionalized persons were performed pursuant to state law in 1907-17, and all eugenic sterilization laws were declared invalid in 1918.
