Embedded Files
Anna R Myers created this exhibit.
This is a preliminary trigger warning that my exhibit will contain themes of disability, abuse, racism, and involuntary sterilizations.
My topic is about involuntary sterilizations in Missouri. Specifically, the lengthy legal process it takes to get one. I will also be evaluating the idea of teens and disabled people being lumped together in a dehumanizing manner. The below documents depict the lengthy process it takes to get sterilized in Missouri if you are under 21 or believe to be unable to consent to the sterilization. This second half boils down to involuntary sterilizations, where the first half might be voluntary but is still required to go through with the process. This process effectively calls for at minimum 5 individuals to form a committee who are educated in the legal, medical, ethical, and social ramifications of sterilization, both voluntary and involuntary. Once this committee has been created and formed they bring their decision to a judge who is basically required to agree with them and then it is determined if the sterilization takes place or not. Because of this lengthy process I was unable to find any history of involuntary sterilizations taking place in Missouri, however, that does not mean it is not still a pertinent topic. This is because it is still legally on the books that they could be allowed if the process is followed.
These images show multiple things. The images on the left go over Missouri's rules to preform an involuntary sterilization. The image on the right go over how federal funds are not to be spent on involuntary sterilizations. These documents were all found in the Eagleton papers from SHSMO.
This topic is important because involuntary sterilizations are a form of eugenics. Eugenics is the belief that we should pass down “desirable” traits and eliminate “undesirable” traits. This often targets people of color and disabled people because their traits are seen as “undesirable”. Historically it is important because eugenics is an old belief and most of the laws that were passed surrounding it are at least 50+ years old. In Missouri specifically the laws were passed in the 1970’s. Specifically looking at Missouri as well it shows that the decisions surrounding involuntary sterilizations were often lumped into Family planning discussions involving teens and access to birth control and voluntary sterilization. This begs the question of consent and who the Missouri government believed could consent or not.
The video here shows a brief history of sterilizations across the country and goes into detail about how it impacts not only disabled people but people of color as well.
Eugenics is something that people used to support involuntary sterilizations claiming it would keep the races "pure" or prevent "unwanted" peoples from having children, which in turn would create more "unwanted" people. Eugenics specifically targets disabled people, poor people, imprisoned people, and people of color.
The basic law in Missouri is that there is no law, people have brought forward bills trying to allow involuntary sterilizations in Missouri for many years, the 1920s is the earliest I could find, but they have all been shut down. The closest thing we get to a law involving it is that if a Judge thinks it is necessary for the wellbeing of a person to be involuntarily sterilized it must go through a review process and cannot be done by federal funding. This means that a judge themself cannot agree to the sterilization it has to go to a committee of at minimum 5 people. These 5 people must be knowledgeable in the legal, ethical, and medical ramifications of the procedure. Now, based on my research I would conclude that no involuntary sterilizations have taken place in Missouri since this “law”, if you can call it that, was put in place.
However, this does not mean the topic is not still important, especially when you consider that it relates to family planning and also to teens access to contraceptive care. One of the big things that came up again and again during my research was if teens, specifically minors, should be allowed and able to access contraceptive care without their parents knowing, or parents consent. This includes voluntary sterilizations, which are rarely even preformed on consenting adults let alone teens. Similar to disabled people who cannot consent there seemed to be debate over whether teens, as a whole, have the ability to consent.
Teens have their rights to privacy taken from them. This is important to the conversation about involuntary sterilization in Missouri because of how the laws are written out. They are written to include teens and young adults needing courts to allow them to get access to some types of reproductive care, specifically things like tubes tied, vasectomy, or a hysterectomy. If you are a teen (under 21) wanting one of these procedures you have to go through the long process of getting a court to allow it, including the committee of 5 people. Another factor of this is the privacy, in Missouri teens are not able to access any type of reproductive care, other than condoms, without their parents or guardians consent.
The reasoning behind this is to prevent teen pregancies and to prevent teens from having sex in general. However, by limiting the types of reproductive care a teen is able to have access to this actually makes it more likely for a teen to get a STI or pregnant. At the same time in Missouri, we are a state that teaches abstinence only sex education. Which means that teens are not taught how to have safe sex. This applies to disabled people because disabled teens are seen as asexual beings, and are often not even taught about abstinence. Meaning that disabled teens are never taught anything about sex or puberty, and the law allows for us to even take away disabled peoples reporductive organs without their consent.
One thing I want everyone to do is think about what it was like being a teenager and having all these big thoughts and feelings but also still having to bow to the authroity of your teachers, parents, basically every adult in your life. Now imagine wanting access to reproductive care but it being denied to you because your parent or guardian did not approve. Even worst, imagine if they forced reproductive care on you when you did not want it. This is what the Missouri law surrounding sterilizations is doing. Though ambiguous compared to other state laws, that allow for involuntary sterilization with no qualms, the Missouri laws still take away the consent from disabled people and teens.
Works Cited.
“In the Interest of M. K. R., 515 s.w.2d 467 – Courtlistener.Com.” Court Listener, www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1661924/in-interest-of-mkr/. Accessed 30 Nov. 2023.
"Missouri" - Eugenics, https://www.uvm.edu/~lkaelber/eugenics/MO/MO.html
"Missouri Law Review" - Sexual Sterilization--Constitutional Validity of Involuntary Sterilization and Consent Determinative of Voluntariness , Joseph D. Baker. https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3999&context=mlr
The Documentary "Crip Camp"
Primary sources from SHSMO.
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