Papers by Hilary Eisenberg
These infamous words are found in Buck v. Bell, a controversial decision penned in 1927 by Justic... more These infamous words are found in Buck v. Bell, a controversial decision penned in 1927 by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. Buck v. Bell, which upheld a Virginia statute allowing the involuntary sterilization of Carrie Buck, is one of the Supreme Court’s most commonly reviled decisions. Despite such strong criticism, Buck v. Bell has never been expressly overturned and is today, still good law. Though legal issues surrounding reproductive rights fueled contentious debates for the remainder of the twentieth century, federal courts generally decline to address the issue of sterilization on a substantive level. 6 Despite increased protections of personal rights as a result of the Supreme Court’s expansion of the right to privacy, a judicial trend has emerged shifting involuntary sterilization controversies into state courts. This trend is currently exemplified by the recent case of Mary Moe, where in February of 2012, a Massachusetts judge handed down a decision ordering an abortion and ...
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Papers by Hilary Eisenberg