February 13, 1974 Governor Otis R. Bowen approved Public Law No. 60, which repealed all laws concerning the sterilization of the mentally ill in the state of Indiana.

In 2007 a marker was erected to commemorate the history of Sterilization in Indiana. It is located in Indianapolis, and reads as follows:

By late 1800s, Indiana authorities believed criminality, mental problems, and pauperism were hereditary. Various laws were enacted based on this belief. In 1907, Governor J. Frank Hanly approved first state eugenics law making sterilization mandatory for certain individuals in state custody. Sterilizations halted 1909 by Governor Thomas R. Marshall.

Indiana Supreme Court ruled 1907 law unconstitutional 1921, citing denial of due process under Fourteenth Amendment. A 1927 law provided for appeals in the courts. Approximately 2,500 people in state custody were sterilized. Governor Otis R. Bowen approved repeal of all sterilization laws 1974; by 1977, related restrictive marriage laws repealed.

-Caroline Lyster

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

• 1907 Indiana Eugenics Law. (n.d.). Indiana Historical Bureau. Retrieved from http://www.in.gov/history/markers/524.htm.