Connecticut
Number of victims
557
people were sterilized up to 1963, of whom 92%
were female. 74%
were considered mentally
ill and 26% were deemed “mentally deficient.”
Period during which sterilizations occurred
Sterilizations
in Connecticut began after the
passage of the state’s sterilization law in 1909 and lasted until
around 1963. The
two major period of sterilizations were between 1920 and 1929 and 1930
and 1940
(including the peak period 1930-1932), when 173/218 operations were
performed.
Temporal pattern of sterilizations and rate of sterilization
Although Connecticut’s sterilization law was passed in 1909, sterilization was not implemented on a larger scale until the early 1920s. In the 1920s, the 1930s, and the early 1940s there were on average about 20 sterilizations per year. Although people continued to be sterilized, the numbers were not as high after 1943 (Paul, p. 304). During the peak period 1930-1932, the rate of sterilization per year per 100,000 residents was about 3.
Passage of law(s)
The
Connecticut sterilization statute was passed on
August 12, 1909, and concerned “operations for the prevention of
procreation”
(Laughlin, p. 19). It
was one of the
shortest sterilization laws in the country (Paul, p. 295). The law allowed for the
sterilization of certain
patients in the state hospitals for the insane at Middletown and
Norwich. The
locations for operations extended to the
Mansfield State Training School and Hospital at Mansfield Depot in a
1919
amendment (Laughlin, p. 20). On
July 1,
1965, the governor signed a bill that replaced the word oophorectomy
with tubal
surgery and required consent of an individual prior to the operation. Under this new law, a
“competent” person who
gives consent of her own surgery must also have the written consent of
“‘the
responsible next of kin or guardian of such persons or, if there is
none, with
the approval of the board of trustees of the institution’” (Paul, p.
299).
Groups identified in the law
The
original law included “inmates of State prisons
and State Hospitals at Middletown and Norwich” and who “would produce
children
with and inherited tendency to crime, insanity, feeble-mindedness,
idiocy, or
imbecility” (Laughlin, pp. 8, 20).
Process of the law
Three
surgeons would examine the mental and physical
capabilities of the individuals at hand, consider the person’s chances
of
improvement, examine his or her family history, and weigh the chances
of
negative procreation. The
board would
then come to a decision about whether or not sterilization was
necessary. Females
who were ordered to be sterilized
underwent oophorectomy (removal of the ovaries) while males were sent
to have
vasectomies (Laughlin, p. 8; Paul, p. 298).
Precipitating factors and processes
In
Connecticut in the early 19th century,
“enlightenment humanism, republic civic concern, and religious
enthusiasm”
spread the idea that asylums were an effective way to improve the
behavior of
mentally and physically challenged individuals.
This idea led to the creation of the American School for
the Deaf in
1817 and the Retreat for the Insane in 1824 in Hartford. However, patients in these
facilities did not
produce the expected results after taking part in various levels of
education,
and connections between diseases in different generations in families
were made
(Goodheart, pp. 93, 96). In the late 1800s concerns about the dangers
of the “feeble
minded” class were voiced in the context of mass immigration,
urbanization, and
labor unrest, combined with an economic depression in 1893 (Goodheart,
p. 105).
This fear of “degeneracy” led to the passing of the eugenic marriage
restriction law in 1895 (see below) and preceded the passing of the
eugenic
sterilization law.
Groups targeted and victimized
Paupers,
criminals, and idiots were targeted because
the society did not want to see an increase in the number of people in
these
groups (Goodheart, p. 107).
Other restrictions places on those identified in the law or with disabilities in general
An
Act Concerning Crimes and Punishments was passed
in 1895. It banned the marriage of “epileptics, imbeciles, and the
feebleminded”
(Goodheart, p. 106). Additionally, men who had sexual intercourse with
these
same victimized groups of women would be fined $1,000 and sent to
prison
(Goodheart, p. 107).
Major proponents
Dr.
George H. Knight undoubtedly shaped the eugenics
movement in Connecticut. He
was a
proponent of colonies for the “feebleminded” and encouraged confining
and
segregating “the custodial class” (Goodheart, pp. 102-104). He played a role in an
epileptic asylum and
worked to pass An Act Concerning Crimes and Punishments, which, among
other
restrictions, prohibited disabled people from marrying (Goodheart, p.
106). He preached
eugenics to various
audiences and expressed how education in asylums, as presented by his
father,
was not an effective solution to the problems of the disabled
(Goodheart, p.
107). He supported
the passing of
Connecticut’s sterilization law in 1909 (Goodheart, p. 109).
“Feeder
institutions” and institutions where sterilization were performed
(Photo
origin: abandonedbutnotforgotten.com; available at
http://www.abandonedbutnotforgotten.com/norwich_state_hospital_sub_pics.htm)
The
Norwich State Hospital housed the mentally ill
beginning in 1904 and had 3,180 patients by the 1950s. All eugenic
sterilizations in Connecticut until the end of 1920 happened there, and
almost
all until 1925. The facility closed in 1996 and is abandoned (Opacity).
(Photo origin: rootsweb.com; available at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~asylums/connecticut_ct/index.html)
Sterilization
operations also occurred in the
Middletown State Hospital. The Middletown State Hospital in Middletown,
CT,
later renamed the Connecticut Valley Hospital, was founded as an insane
asylum
in 1868. Currently
it contains a
psychiatric region, a forensic area, and a substance abuse assistance
division
(Rootsweb).
(Photo origin: http://2007newenglandtrip.blogspot.com/2008/03/southbury-connecticut.html)
Almost
all sterilizations after World War II took
place in the Southbury Training School (Paul, p. 306 n. 5), which was
an
institution for mentally challenged individuals.
A total of at least 60 people were sterilized
in this facility after World War II (Paul, p. 303), which presently is
a
facility that has 696 residents and is located in Southbury, CT
(Kasprak).
Julius Paul notes that, in fact, “many requests for sterilizations
[were]
refused because the children do not fall into the category of familial
mental
retardation” (p. 296).
The
Mansfield State Training School and Hospital was
also a place where sterilizations were performed, but the number of
sterilizations
was apparently very small, due to the fact that a former superintendent
only
once consented to such an operation on a resident (see Paul, p. 310 n.
17). The
facility closed in 1993 (Connecticut State Library).
The
sources used for this research did not include
any information about the facilities’ eugenic pasts or use of
sterilization
methods.
Opposition
The
Connecticut sterilization laws were
not as drastic as those drawn up in other states, partly due to the
high levels
of opposition that the proponents faced. They dealt with religious
group
opposition that is reported for the early period (Paul, p. 310 n. 14),
the
concern over court reviews of a sterilization law that provided
procedural
safeguards and appeal process, and early on also the reluctance of some
leaders
of institutions to participate (see Paul, p. 301).
Bibliography
Connecticut
State Library. “The Mansfield Training School and Hospital.” Available
at <
http://www.cslib.org/agencies/MansfieldstatetrainingSchool.htm>
Goodheart,
Lawrence B. 2004. “Rethinking Mental Retardation: Education and
Eugenics in
Connecticut, 1818-1917.” Journal of the
History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 59: 90-111.
Kasprak,
John. 2000.
“Southbury Training School.”
OLR Research Report. Available at <http://www.cga.ct.gov/2000/rpt/olr/htm/2000-r-0103.htm>.
Laughlin,
Harry
H. 1922. Eugenical Sterilization in the United States.
Chicago:
Psychopathic Laboratory
of the
Municipal Court of Chicago.
Opacity:
Urban Ruins. “Norwich State Hospital.”
Available at <http://www.opacity.us/site64_norwich_state_hospital.htm>.
Paul,
Julius. 1965.
“‘Three Generations of Imbeciles Are Enough’: State Eugenic
Sterilization Laws
in American Thought and Practice.”
Washington, D.S.: Walter
Reed
Army Institute of Research.
Rootsweb. “Connecticut
State Hospital.” Available at
<http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~asylums/connecticut_ct/index.html>.