STERILIZATION & EUGENICS
Posted by: 
The Burrow
N 38° 16.465 W 085° 45.280
16S E 608930 N 4236996
A descriptive historical marker in Clark County, Indiana.
Waymark Code: WMYMMY
Location: Indiana, United States
Date Posted: 06/30/2018
Views: 4
Side One
In the late 1890s, Indiana Reformatory doctor Harry C. Sharp and prison officials implemented an experimental program using a sterilization procedure to curtail unwanted behaviors of young imprisoned men. Sharp performed over 200 operations by 1907. Though he implemented the procedure as therapeutic treatment, he soon promoted it as a eugenic measure.
Side Two
Indiana’s 1907 Eugenics Law, the first in U.S., authorized a forced sterilization program “to prevent procreation of confirmed criminals, idiots, imbeciles and rapists” in state institutions. Sharp promoted it nationally as a model policy. Twelve states enacted similar laws by 1913. Approximately 2,500 Hoosiers were sterilized before the practice ceased in 1974.
County: Clark
Year Placed: 2017
Name: STERILIZATION & EUGENICS
ID#: 10.2017.2
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