1933. The Human Betterment Foundation, an American eugenics organization established in California in 1928, publishes a twelve-page pamphlet entitled "Human Sterilization."

The pamphlet opens,

"Strong, intelligent, useful families are becoming smaller and smaller. Irresponsible, diseased, defective parents, on the other hand, do not limit their families correspondingly. There can be but one result. The result is race degeneration." (p.1)

The advantages of sexual sterilization, in addition to protecting the population from children being parented by insane or feebleminded persons, are enumerated (“Human Sterilization,” 1933, p. 3), and the pamphlet also asserts that families may be better kept together as the need for institutionalization would diminish and misery and suffering would be remedied. (“Human Sterilization,” 1933, p. 3-5).

Many such pamphlets were published and circulated by the Human Betterment Foundation, in an attempt to educate the public, and raise awareness about eugenic practices.

The full text of the pamphlet is available online here.

-Leslie Baker and Amy Dyrbye

• Human Betterment Foundation. (1933). Human Sterilization. DNA Learning Center website. Retrieved from http://www.dnalc.org/view/11673--Human-Sterilization-Human-Betterment-Foundation.html.