POS2041 Lecture Notes - Lecture 40: Fallopian Tube, Equal Protection Clause, Carrie Buck
17 Aug 2020
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Carrie buck was committed to a state mental institution after becoming pregnant, on the grounds that she, together with her mother and her daughter, were feebleminded. Her condition had been present in her family for the last three generations. A virginia law allowed for the sexual sterilization of inmates of institutions to promote the. "health of the patient and the welfare of society. " Before the procedure could be performed, however, a hearing was required to determine whether or not the operation was a wise thing to do: constitutional question. Whether the virginia statute which authorized sterilization denied buck the right to due process of the law and the equal protection of the laws as protected by the fourteenth amendment: conclusion. The court found that the statute did not violate the constitution. Buck"s challenge was not upon the medical procedure involved but on the process of substantive law.
