Indiana State Eugenics Law 1907

By late 1800s, Indiana authorities believed criminality, mental problems, and pauperism were hereditary. Various laws were enacted based on this belief. In 1907, Governor J. Frank Hanly approved the first state eugenics law making sterilization mandatory for certain individuals in state custody. Sterilizations were halted in 1909 by Governor Thomas R. Marshall.

The Indiana Supreme Court ruled 1907 law unconstitutional 1921, citing denial of due process under the Fourteenth Amendment. A 1927 law provided for appeals in the courts. Approximately 2,500 people in state custody were sterilized. Governor Otis R. Bowen approved the repeal of all sterilization laws in 1974; by 1977,and  related restrictive marriage laws were repealed.

In a paper presented in 1879 to the Social Science Association of Indiana, Harriet Foster claimed that imbeciles and the feeble-minded often inherit their conditions. Foster stated that “intermarriage of consanguineous persons, and intemperance of one or both parents,” are the most frequent reasons certain people have mental problems. (Harriet M. Foster, The Education of Idiots and Imbeciles (Indianapolis, 1979), 6)

Professor Paul A. Lombardo of Georgia State University provided the Indiana Historical Bureau with information concerning eugenic studies made by Julius Paul. Julius Paul wrote several works on sterilization in the United States. He calculated Indiana sterilized 2,424 people up until 1963. 1,231 sterilizations occurred in Indiana from the beginning of sterilization effort until 1943. From 1943-1963, Indiana conducted 1,193 sterilizations. (Julius Paul, “State Eugenic Sterilization History: A Brief Overview,” Jonas Robitscher, ed., Eugenic Sterilization, Springfield, IL, 1973).