A Child's Right to Be Well Born: Venereal Disease and the Eugenic Marriage Laws, 1913–1935

Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 60 (2):211-232 (2017)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

For nearly a century, and until very recently, the majority of U.S. states required a blood test for marriage license applicants. The tests identified people with conditions formerly designated as "venereal diseases," most importantly gonorrhea and syphilis. Those who tested positive were barred from civil marriage. Although the premarital testing requirement is no longer a feature of state law, numerous related enactments are common features of law in most states.The historical literature describing the rise and fall of laws prescribing marriage restrictions related to VD has treated those enactments as public health measures, meant primarily to forestall the spread of disease to intimate partners. But laws to...

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Civil Unions for All.Lori Keleher - 2013 - Philosophy in the Contemporary World 20 (2):55-64.
Ugly Laws.Susan Schweik & Robert A. Wilson - 2015 - Eugenics Archives.
Just Love? Marriage and the Question of Justice.Pauline Kleingeld - 1998 - Social Theory and Practice 24 (2):261-281.
After Marriage: Rethinking Marital Relationships.Elizabeth Brake (ed.) - 2016 - , US: Oxford University Press USA.

Analytics

Added to PP
2017-11-23

Downloads
24 (#563,255)

6 months
3 (#447,120)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references