A North Carolina-based charity’s initiative to pay drug and alcohol abusers to be sterilized or choose long-term birth control (IUD) has popped up recently in my Google “eugenics” news alert. Once an addict proves they have had a procedure to prevent pregnancy, they are given $300. Several thousand individuals have participated in the program in the US. The group argues that the policy will prevent the birth of children that will likely become a societal burden or at the very least be raised in an unstable environment. Those who oppose the initiative argue that often addicts get clean with the appropriate support when they become parents. The organization is now setting up a base in London, sparking further controversy in the UK.

Though the majority of sterilizations endorsed by eugenicists in the last century were involuntary, this initiative isn’t far from involuntary. An individual suffering from addiction and desperate to maintain it is not capable of weighing the decision to be sterilized. The program also likely eliminates any hope an addict may have for change and improvement. The funding for this program, which is mostly by donation, would be better put to use improving public health and programs that provide rehabilitation assistance to addicts.

The Progress of Eugenical Sterilization

The Progress of Eugenical Sterilization

Explore the Archive for reasons for sterilizations, especially the topic “Sterilization Laws.”