15th Sterilizer

STATES & CITIES

"Sterilization is not a punishment but a protection. It carries no stigma or humiliation. The imbecile mind is criminal and you can't breed it out. Beginning of wrong-doing is hereditary and starts in the secretive actions. By preventing reproduction, one of the basic causes can be cured."

So last week declared whiskery Governor William Henry ("Alfalfa Bill") Murray as he signed legislation which made Oklahoma the 15th State in the Union to sterilize the hopelessly insane. Also included under the Oklahoma law were the habitually criminal. Affected are men under 67 years of age, women under 47. Thrice-convicted felons and insane patients in State institutions are to be examined by medical boards under the State Board of Affairs which is empowered to order sterilization./- Because the law is not retroactive, Oklahoma's 2,937 prisoners at McAlester will not be subject to its provisions. An appeal from a sterilization order may be taken to court. Governor Murray promised its moderate and judicious enforcement.

The constitutionality of sterilization laws has been upheld by the U. S. Supreme Court.

/-Surgically, sterilization is simple. In males it is achieved by cutting the spermatic cord, in females by cutting the Fallopian tubes. Frequently X-ray is used to atrophy the ovaries.

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