Indiana Eugenics

^{"1907 Indiana Eugenics Law" via Wikimedia Commons | CC by-SA 4.0}

Indiana was the first government in the world to pass a eugenic sterilization law. The state sterilized 2,500 people from 1907-to-1974. Indiana apologized for implementing the program earlier this year, on the 100th anniversary of its inception. A five-part news series on history of Eugenics in Indiana.
Latest Episodes

• Indiana Eugenics, Part 1: The Eugenics Movement

  March 30, 2026

  Eugenics supporters believed they could improve society with sterilization and other progressive measures. Indiana enacted the first eugenic sterilization law in 1907.

• Indiana Eugenics, Part 2: Legalization

  March 30, 2026

  In the second installment of the five part series WFYI's Mary Hartnett explores how the state created it's sterilization program and the Supreme Court case that made sterilization legal.

• Indiana Eugenics, Part 3: The Process

  March 30, 2026

  In part three of the series, a look at how the process worked and why the program finally ended.

• Indiana Eugenics, Part 4: Speaking Up

  March 30, 2026

  Indiana enforced a eugenic law that allowed institutions to sterilize the "mentally...