Sterilization

“ Sterilization would certainly stop the breeding of the sterilized, but the consequences of known immunity from conception through salpingectomy of the female or vasectomy of the male, would lead to much increase of immorality and spread of venereal diseases. ”

“ This operation can be performed in a Surgery with the aid of a little Cocaine, and the patient may walk to his home, sterilized for the rest of his natural life, after the complete loss of any accumulated fluid.
Of these two operations for the sterilization of men, vasectomy is preferable. The major operation for the purpose of inducing artificial sterility should never for a moment be considered. ”

“ All bacteria except those which have formed spores can be instantly killed as soon as boiling point is reached, and most spores are killed by a few minutes boiling.
Sterilization.—The practical lessons drawn from sterilization are many. We know enough now to boil our drinking water if we are uncertain of its purity; we sterilize any foods that we believe might harbor bacteria, and thus keep them from spoiling. The industry of canning is built upon the principle of sterilization. ”

“ Or the trouble may be with the Sterilization Division, where the duty of the employees is to carry mattresses, etc., from the patient’s home to the city sterilizer. When there is no law compelling this sterilization, and it is an optional matter with the householder, if done, its doing is altogether the result of the nurse’s teaching and advice. If the waggon drivers are lazy and do not wish to carry the heavy mattresses, they can shirk work by means of false excuses often difficult to detect. ”

“ If the time ever comes when the control of sterilization could be committed to a nonprofessional body, employing the services of men of whatever professional skill may be needed, the possibility of systematic legal sterilization may become a live one. ”

“ FIG. I3-Instrument Sterilizer. The sterilization of all instru surgery and with their preparation for use. The mere sterilization, by boiling or by steaming, of all instruments and dressings, is enough to ensure their freedom from the ordinary micro-organisms of suppuration; but the surgeon cannot boil or steam either himself or his patient. The preparation, therefore, of the surgeon's hands, and of the skin over the area of operation, is made not only by scrubbing with soap and hot water, but by careful use of antiseptic lotions. ”

“ The general advantage claimed for sterilization, as a method of preventing the reproduction of persons whose offspring would probably be a detriment to race progress, is the accomplishment of the end in view without much expense to the state, and without interfering with the "liberty and pursuit of happiness" of the individual. The general objection to it is that by removing all fear of consequences from an individual, it is likely to lead to the spread of sexual immorality and venereal disease. ”

“ Practically all are agreed that either permanent custodial care through the reproductive period or sterilization should be enforced. Some maintain that such individuals should remain permanently in institutions anyway and that therefore to sterilize them is needless, while others urge that if sterilized many capable of making their own living could be freed and allowed to do so. ”

“ How successful will be public measures leading to the prevention of offspring in the obviously unfit by sterilization of both males and females is uncertain. It is doubtful whether public sentiment at the present time will allow the measure to be thoroughly carried out. ”

“ On the contrary, in the male, sterilization is ordinarily accomplished by an operation known as vasectomy, in which a small piece of each sperm duct is removed. Such reports on it as I have found indicate that it is a comparatively simple minor operation which involves no special inconvenience or hardship on the subject beyond the deprivation of offspring. ”

“ Probably the most serious difficulty to be overcome before the practice of sterilization in any form could come into general use would be the determining of what persons were proper subjects to be operated upon. ”

“ They maintain that while we may have to come to it as a last resort, we are yet too ignorant of the actual effects of the operation, or are too little informed on the inheritability of the specific traits we are trying to eradicate, to launch forth on so radical a program. We must not forget that when we put sterilization into effect we are going to have to deal with individual cases, not general averages. ”

“ The balance of the male civilian population of Germany could be treated within three months. Inasmuch as sterilization of women needs somewhat more time, it may be computed that the entire female population of Germany could be sterilized within a period of three years or less. Complete sterilization of both sexes, and not only one, is to be considered necessary in view of the present German doctrine that so much as one drop of true German blood constitutes a German. ”

“ As syphilis is a curable disease, there is scarcely more reason for sterilizing those afflicted with it than there is for sterilizing persons with measles. It is true that the sterilization of a large number of syphilitics might have a eugenic effect, if the cured syphilitics had a permanently impaired germ-plasm—a proposition which is very doubtful. ”

“ The process of killing all the living organisms or of removing them completely is spoken of as disinfection or as sterilization, according to circumstances. Thus the latter term is applied largely in the laboratory, while the former more generally in practice outside the laboratory. So also disinfection is most commonly done with chemical agents and sterilization by physical means, though exceptions are numerous. The original idea of disinfection was the destruction of “infective” organisms, that is, organisms producing disease in man or animals. ”

“ One practical outcome of these researches is the method now always adopted of sterilizing by a succession of gentle warmings, sufficient to kill the developed micro-organisms, instead of by one fierce heating attempting to attack the more refractory undeveloped germs of the same. This method of intermittent sterilization originated with Tyndall, and it was an important contribution to biological science and industrial practice. ”

“ The legislatures of six of the United States have already voted to permit the sterilization of defective persons. But it is doubtful if the "more advanced" public is altogether ready for such operations. A less drastic, but not less effective, method is the segregation of the defective strains during the entire reproductive period. ”

“ For these reasons, we believe that segregation is the best way in which to restrict the reproduction of those whose offspring could hardly fail to be undesirable, and that sterilization should be looked upon only as an adjunct, to be used in special cases where it may seem advantageous to allow an individual full liberty, or partial liberty, and yet where he or she can not be trusted to avoid reproduction. ”

“ Aside from the elimination of individuals of undesirable heredity, there are measures of a quasi-eliminatory character which may be taken to guard against deterioration of stocks. In addition to rational hygienic measures against the spread of diseases in general, special precautions are needed against venereal diseases, since these most seriously threaten the virility of the race. With these diseases, sterilization would not be a sufficient protection, inasmuch as that operation does not preclude their transmission to nonsterilized individuals. ”

“ There are now many contraceptive methods, some dependent on precautions adopted by the man, others dependent upon the woman, others again which take the form of an operation permanently preventing conception, and, therefore, not to be adopted save by couples who already have as many children as they desire, or else who ought never to have children at all and thus wisely adopt a method of sterilization. ”

“ As regards the suggestion that sterilization may lead to new foci of venereal disease, it must be borne in mind that the unsterilized feeble-minded are already prone to sexual promiscuity, and there is no evidence that sterilization would increase this tendency. The opponents of sterilization offer as an alternative only permanent segregation to prevent the transmission of mental defect. It is evident, however, that the cost of the segregation of all mental defectives capable of reproducing other mental defectives would be exceedingly heavy. ”

“ Accordingly punitive sterilization is unreasonable and inconvenient. This latter view prevails among most modern moral theologians. Confirmation for the view is sought in the response of the Holy Office (AAS 32-73) that direct sterilization is prohibited by the law of nature. Since punitive sterilization has as its immediate effect, whether as an end or as a means, sterility of the generative potency, it may well fall under the category of direct and hence also under condemnation of the Holy Office. ”

“ Make one exception to an otherwise severely strict enforcement of total sterilization, by exempting from such treatment only those Germans whose relatives, being citizens of various victor nations, assume financial responsibility for their actions. ”

“ We have therefore at our hand, a simple, safe, and certain method of stopping procreation by the sterilization of women by tubo-ligature.
This operation would entail no hardship on women. It is so easy, safe and painless, that thousands would readily submit to it to-morrow, to be relieved from the anxiety which a possible increase in their already too numerous families excites. Hundreds of women and men to-day are living unnatural lives, because of their refusal to bring children into the world with the hereditary taint they know courses in their own veins. ”

“ Certain articles are ruined by sterilization, and the nurse must be careful not to include these, or there will be a suit for damages. Leather and furs, can never be steamed. Straw mattresses are also injured. Nor is it possible to sterilize carpets and matting, because of their bulk. The sterilizer should be reserved exclusively for material which lends itself readily to treatment of this kind. In selecting what is suitable, the nurse should exclude old and filthy articles, which should be burned. ”

“ Any law which recognizes the induction of artificial sterility should make operative interference with those fit to procreate a healthy stock an offence.
Induced sterility should rank with induced abortion, and be a criminal offence, except in certain cases which could be defined.
There is much evidence to suggest that artificial sterilization may become as a great vice, as great a danger to the State as criminal abortion.
Artificial abortion, as commonly performed, is a much more dangerous operation than tubo-ligature. ”

“ Sterilization is the abstractly logical course to pursue, since it interferes with no function of the individual except the creation of children. But in addition to the psychological difficulties involved in social prejudices against this operation, there is a very real danger to be foreseen which can not be lightly set aside. If we could assume that the requisite machinery for the selection of those who should be sterilized would operate with perfect intelligence and without ethical lapses, we might view its introduction with equanimity. ”

“ Comfortables made of secondhand shoddy sell at lower prices than those filled with other materials.
Appellant claims that, in order properly to protect health, bedding material should be sterilized. The record shows that, for the sterilization of secondhand materials from which it makes shoddy, appellee uses effective steam sterilizers. There is no controversy between the parties as to whether shoddy may be rendered harmless by disinfection or sterilization. ”

“ SS-Gruppenführer Hofmann advocates the opinion that sterilization will have to be widely used, since the person of mixed blood who is given the choice whether he will be evacuated or sterilized would rather undergo sterilization. ”

“ Just as therapeutic abortion is, in certain cases, legitimately performed by medical practitioners, so has the operation of sterilization a recognized place in medical treatment of exceptional cases in which a woman's life is likely to be endangered or her health gravely impaired by further pregnancy. ”

“ I would like to stress that experiments on the sterilization and castration of women and men were carried out on a particularly large scale. Whole blocks in the camp were especially designated for experiments using particularly effective methods of sterilization and castration.
I will read two short excerpts from the report of the Extraordinary State Commission, which the Tribunal will find on the back of Page 196 of the document book, Paragraph 5. I quote:
“Experiments on women were carried out in the hospital blocks of the Oswieczim Camp. ”

“ Taking into consideration all the circumstances in the case, it must be conceded that the process of sterilization, first practiced by Appert and afterward placed on a scientific basis by Pasteur, has proved of almost immeasurable advantage to mankind. Thus for this greater reason the character and quality of foods thus preserved should be wholly above suspicion, and no adulteration or sophistication of any kind should be practiced therewith. The manufacturer is quite as much interested as the consumer in placing the whole output of sterilized foods on a plane above suspicion. ”