Harry Laughlin, circa 1929

One of the reasons eugenics laws were so disturbing is because their targets were so loosely defined.

Harry Laughlin’s Model Eugenical Sterilization Law in 1914 spelled out just how nebulous the so-called “undesirable” element of a population could be. He proposed to authorize sterilization of what he called the socially inadequate–and the list of these people was long and frightening. Continue reading →