March 22, 1909. The Washington Legislature passes "An act for the prevention of procreation".

Introduced as part of changes to the criminal code, this legislation aimed at allowing the legal sterilization of undesirable persons; although very few sterilizations took place under this legislation (Kaelber, 2011). This legislation laid out rather restricted conditions for when sterilization operations could take place. Only people convicted of sexually abusing young girls, and thought to be habitual criminals, were candidates for sterilization procedures under this legislation (Laughlin, 15). This legislation was repealed only two months after it was passed. It was replaced by a broader sterilization law in 1921.

This legislation was the second piece of sterilization legislation in the United States. It is noteworthy because it was aimed, unlike other legislation around the time, exclusively at criminals and not mentally or physically disabled persons.

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-Luke Kersten

• Kaelber, L. (2011). Eugenics: Compulsory Sterilization in 50 American States. Retrieved from http://www.uvm.edu/~lkaelber/eugenics/WA/WA.html.

• Laughlin, H. (1914). The Legal, Legislative, and Administrative Aspects of Sterilization. National Information Resource on Ethics and Human Genetics website. Retrieved from http://dnapatents.georgetown.edu/resources/Bulletin10B.pdf.