C.B. Jacobson and R.H. Barton publish "Intrauterine Diagnosis and Management of Genetic Defects"

1967. C.B. Jacobson and R.H. Barton publish their article "Intrauterine Diagnosis and Management of Genetic Defects" in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. This article remains influential in scientific circles, and helped to progress the field of gene therapy. The article pioneers a method Jacobson and Barton developed that could be used to identify fetuses with chromosomal anomalies, such as Down syndrome (trisomy 21), and Trisomy 13. Based on these tests, doctors may recommend abortion of the fetus, or parents may decide to abort on their own.

Co-author Cecil Jacobson has further ties to eugenics. He was a “well-respected clinician and researcher” at the time that this article was published, and was also the first American to use amniocentesis to detect chromosomal anomalies in 1967 (Harris, 308), as described in the article, "Intrauterine Diagnosis and Management of Genetic Defects." Jacobson operated his own practice as a medical doctor, and offered couples in-vitro fertilization.

However, in 1992, Jacobson was found guilty of using IVF to inseminate as many as 75 women who had initially believed that they had been inseminated with their husband’s sperm. Despite being found guilty of 52 counts of fraud and being sentenced to 5 years in prison Jacobson felt that his actions were justified as he “knew [his] semen was safe because [he hadn’t] slept with anyone but [his] wife in [their] 30 years of marriage.” (Harris, 308). Jacobson’s attorney stated “that if indeed he had used his own sperm it was to provide a sample that was “clean and good” in the midst of the AIDS crisis of the decade.” (Harris, 308-9).

While these two activities (the publishing of the article and the illegal insemination of patients) may seem unrelated there is a clear eugenic thread; Jacobson both pioneered a method that could be used to identify fetuses with chromosomal anomalies allowing the opportunity to eugenically abort them and also was so confident in his eugenically “good” sperm that he fathered up to 75 babies with his patients.

-Leslie Baker and Amy Dyrbye

  • Jacobson, C.B., Barter, R.H. (1967). “Intrauterine diagnoses and management of genetic defects.” American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 99(6), 796-807.

  • Harris, L. H. (2006). Challenging conception: A clinical and cultural history of in vitro fertilization in the United States. (Doctoral dissertation). University of Michigan, Ann Arbour, Michigan, USA. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/305314170?accountid=12617

  • Prenatal Diagnosis. (n.d.) Wikipedia. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prenatal_diagnosis

C.B. Jacobson and R.H. Barton publish "Intrauterine Diagnosis and Management of Genetic Defects"

1967. C.B. Jacobson and R.H. Barton publish their article "Intrauterine Diagnosis and Management of Genetic Defects" in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. This article remains influential in scientific circles, and helped to progress the field of gene therapy. The article pioneers a method Jacobson and Barton developed that could be used to identify fetuses with chromosomal anomalies, such as Down syndrome (trisomy 21), and Trisomy 13. Based on these tests, doctors may recommend abortion of the fetus, or parents may decide to abort on their own.

Co-author Cecil Jacobson has further ties to eugenics. He was a “well-respected clinician and researcher” at the time that this article was published, and was also the first American to use amniocentesis to detect chromosomal anomalies in 1967 (Harris, 308), as described in the article, "Intrauterine Diagnosis and Management of Genetic Defects." Jacobson operated his own practice as a medical doctor, and offered couples in-vitro fertilization.

However, in 1992, Jacobson was found guilty of using IVF to inseminate as many as 75 women who had initially believed that they had been inseminated with their husband’s sperm. Despite being found guilty of 52 counts of fraud and being sentenced to 5 years in prison Jacobson felt that his actions were justified as he “knew [his] semen was safe because [he hadn’t] slept with anyone but [his] wife in [their] 30 years of marriage.” (Harris, 308). Jacobson’s attorney stated “that if indeed he had used his own sperm it was to provide a sample that was “clean and good” in the midst of the AIDS crisis of the decade.” (Harris, 308-9).

While these two activities (the publishing of the article and the illegal insemination of patients) may seem unrelated there is a clear eugenic thread; Jacobson both pioneered a method that could be used to identify fetuses with chromosomal anomalies allowing the opportunity to eugenically abort them and also was so confident in his eugenically “good” sperm that he fathered up to 75 babies with his patients.

-Leslie Baker and Amy Dyrbye

  • Jacobson, C.B., Barter, R.H. (1967). “Intrauterine diagnoses and management of genetic defects.” American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 99(6), 796-807.

  • Harris, L. H. (2006). Challenging conception: A clinical and cultural history of in vitro fertilization in the United States. (Doctoral dissertation). University of Michigan, Ann Arbour, Michigan, USA. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/305314170?accountid=12617

  • Prenatal Diagnosis. (n.d.) Wikipedia. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prenatal_diagnosis