Eugenic States: A Contextual Archive Main Menu Introduction Critical Themes in the History of Eugenics Eugenic Practices in California, Iowa, and North Carolina What We Can Say with Data Acknowledgements

Iowa

3
We began with the passage of California's pro-eugenics laws and our path moves us through time and from the west coast, across the great plains in Iowa, and on to the eastern edge of the country in North Carolina. Just two years after California, in 1911, Iowa became the ninth state to pass a eugenic sterilization law in the United States when "An Act to prevent the procreation of habitual criminals, idiots, feeble-minded, and imbeciles," introduced by representative Eli C. Perkins, was passed in the Iowa State Legislature. 

As was the case for each of the 32 states with eugenics laws, Iowa's eugenics program was shaped by the state based traditions and infrastructure. By 1911, Iowa had half a century of experience running hospitals and asylums for the care and housing of Iowans. Each had it's own managing officer and these officials, along with the state parole board, decided if it would be "improper or inadvisable" for detained people to reproduce and if so, tasked them with sterilization. The 1911 law also mandated sterilization for "twice convicted felons and any woman convicted even once of prostitution."

This initial legislation was repealed soon after it was passed because of its unconstitutional use of sterilization as punishment. Subsequent versions did not mandate sterilization based on criminal record, instead focusing on reviewer opinions about the "best interests of the patient and society." The third version of the legislation passed in 1913 and remained in effect until it was repealed in 1979.

The 1913 bill established an official Board of Eugenics that also included the managing officer and surgical superintendent of each institution and these boards were the mechanism for evaluating and approving sterilizations. The formation of the Board of Eugenics established a process with a paper trail that now attests that the Iowa Board of Eugenics approved and oversaw the sterilization of 1,910 people deemed “unfit” to reproduce between 1934-1976. The state legislature abolished the Board of Eugenics in 1977 and the law under which it operated was repealed two years later.

In this path you can learn more about the laws, ideas, people, and social structures that were integral to Iowa's eugenic practices. 

This page has paths:

  1. Eugenic Practices in California, Iowa, and North Carolina Jacqueline D. Wernimont

Contents of this path:

  1. Iowa's Sterilization Laws
  2. “Excessive” Children
  3. The Miller Family's Story
  4. Whiteness and Interracial Relationships
  5. Eldora Escapees
  6. Margaret V. Clark and the “Importance of Parenthood”
  7. University of Iowa State Psychopathic Hospital
  8. Unwed Mothers
  9. The “Right” to Procreate
  10. Justifying Eugenic Sterilization