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Jail time trade for birth control 'close to eugenics'

Faculty Associate Philip Cohen comments on Tennessee judge's controversial policy

Writing in Inverse Science, Rafi Letzter reports that Tennessee judge Sam Benningfield is offering inmates in that state a 30-day jail time reduction if they undergo procedures for long-acting or permanent birth control. The judge told a local news channel that he hopes the procedures will "encourage them to take personal responsibility, and to give them a chance when they do get out not to be burdened again with additional children." Letzter wrote.

Faculty Associate Philip Cohen was quoted in the story: "“Without making too much of one crackpot judge, it does show a whole way of thinking about people who are considered undesirable by authorities or people in power: that if only they had fewer children they’d have fewer problems. In that sense it’s really like eugenics.”

See the story on Inverse Science