The Undesirables: The Transformation of American Eugenics from Sterilization to Abortion
![handle is hein.journals/avemar20 and id is 302 raw text is: THE UNDESIRABLES:
THE TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICAN EUGENICS
FROM STERILIZATION TO ABORTION
Darrin Schultzt
INTRODUCTION
For you formed my inward parts, you knitted me together in my mother's
womb. I praise you, for I am wondrously made. - Psalm 139:13-14
In 2019, the United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of
an Indiana law prohibiting aborted children from being treated like infectious
waste.' Surprisingly, what drew most attention to the case was not the
question answered by the Court, but rather, the question left unanswered.
Justice Clarence Thomas, in a concurring opinion, took time separately to
address the other aspect of Indiana law at issue,2 which restricted selective
abortions on the basis of race, sex, disability, or related characteristics.3 In his
concurrence, Justice Thomas sought to highlight the eugenic ethos behind the
selective abortions prohibited by the challenged Indiana law.4 It did not take
long for Justice Thomas to receive criticism for connecting abortion to
eugenics.5 The principle criticism opposing his opinion is that the link
between eugenics and abortion is severed due to the apparent incongruity of
t Candidate for Juris Doctor, Ave Maria School of Law, 2022. To my dear wife and children: Thank you
for everything. This Note is dedicated to all prebom children. O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us
who have recourse to thee.
1. Box v. Planned Parenthood of Ind. & Ky., Inc., 139 S. Ct. 1780, 1783 (2019) (Thomas, J.,
concurring).
2. Id.
3. IND. CODE §§ 16-34-4-1 to -9 (2016).
4. Box, 139 S. Ct. at 1783 (Thomas, J., concurring) (arguing that [t]he use of abortion to achieve
eugenic goals is not merely hypothetical, but rather, that the historical developments of abortion practice
in America developed alongside the American eugenics movement.).
5. Adam Cohen, Clarence Thomas Knows Nothing ofMy Work, THE ATLANTIC (May 29, 2019),
https://theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/05/clarence-thomas-used-ny-book-argue-against-abortion/5 904
296](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/avemar20&div=15&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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The Undesirables: The Transformation of American Eugenics from Sterilization to Abortion
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