Dr. Harry Perkins Lauds Sterilization Law in Vt. But Bishop Ryan Condemns It: a machine readable edition Creation of machine-readable version: Nancy Gallagher Additional scanning and OCR: Ben Schacher Conversion to TEI.2-conformant markup: Mary Margaret Welch Additional markup by: Hope Greenberg, Shane Barney ca. 5 kilobytes University of VermontBurlington, Vermont USA

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July/2000 Dr. Harry Perkins Lauds Sterilization Law in Vt. But Bishop Ryan Condemns It The Burlington Free Press

October 9, 1951

 The Burlington Free PressBurlington, VermontORIGINAL October 9, 1951

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 October 9, 1951 WE'LL LET NANCY DETERMINE THESE Dr. Harry Perkins Lauds Sterilization Law in Vt. But Bishop Ryan Condemns It Burlington Free Press October 9, 1951 Original located at: University of Vermont, Special Collections. Reference file: "Eugenics" Dr. Harry Perkins Lauds Sterilization Law in Vt. But Bishop Ryan Condemns It

Reports of feebleminded persons being sterilized in Vermont drew both attacks and praise yesterday.

Dr. Harry F. Perkins, who was influential in sponsoring the sterilization law through the Vermont legislature in March, 1928, said the law is one of the most important measures on the statute books.

Dr. Clarence J. Gamble, in the issue of the American Journal of Mental Deficiency, estimated that the birth of 150 feebleminded children in Vermont will be prevented by eugenic sterilization thus far performed.

Condemning this practice, the Most Rev. Edward F. Ryan, bishop of Burlington said, "Sterilization is a grave injury to a human person because it deprives him of a power, as integral to human nature as the power of speech."

He pointed out that, under Hitler, what was begun as a so‐called medical scientific procedure became a program for the extinction of first personal enemies and then an entire race.

Bishop Ryan added that even "from a so‐called scientific standpoint there is no proven justification of the results of eugenic sterilization."

Dr. Perkins said that he supported the law when it was in planning stages and that he still maintains that strong support of it is good for the people of Vermont.

Indicating that actually more mentally retarded people have been sterilized in Vermont than the 210 feebleminded persons estimated in the report by Dr. Gamble, Dr. Perkins said that many of these have applied for eugenic sterilization. Commenting on any danger of eugenic sterilization getting out of band, Dr. Perkins said, "It is carefully guarded as to its lawful use."

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