A new bill filed at the Arkansas Legislature would eliminate eugenics-type talking points from Arkansas code.
S.B. 452 by Sen. Ben Gilmore (R – Crossett) and Rep. Mindy McAlindon (R – Centerton) amends the legislative declarations in the Arkansas Family Planning Act.
The bill deletes legislative findings in state law that claim, “Continuing population growth either causes or aggravates many social, economic, and environmental problems, both in this state and in the nation,” and that “[c]ontraceptive procedures, supplies, and information as to and procedures for voluntary sterilization are not sufficiently available as a practical matter to many persons in this state.”
The Arkansas Family Planning Act was signing into law 50 years ago, in 1973, and the law’s language about population growth and sterilization sounds a lot like eugenics.
Generally speaking, eugenics promotes the idea that population growth is a burden for society — especially if a growing segment of the population is poor or disabled.
Historically, eugenicists have supported abortion, contraception, and forced sterilization as a result.
During the 20th century, the eugenics movement was notorious in the U.S. and abroad for targeting certain races and ethnic groups as well as the poor, the sick, and the disabled.
For example, Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger praised eugenics efforts to sterilize the physically and mentally disabled.
When lawmakers enact legislation, they sometimes write declarations — or “legislative findings” — into the law explaining what the lawmakers believe. The findings can help guide how a law is enforced or how a court interprets the law.
S.B. 452 is a good bill that deletes legislative findings from the 1970s that sound a lot like pro-eugenics talking points.
