Every eugenist
must wish them success in their efforts to promote sex hygiene, but it
is a matter of regret that they can not place their efforts in the
proper light, for their masquerade as a eugenic propaganda has brought
undeserved reproach on the eugenics movement.
The customary form of legal action in this case is to demand that both
applicants for a marriage license, or in some cases only the male, sign
an affidavit or present a certificate from some medical authority
stating that an examination has been made and the applicant found to be
free from any venereal disease. In some cases other diseases or mental
defects are included. When the law prevents marriage on account of
insanity, feeble-mindedness, or other hereditary defect, it obviously
has a eugenic value; but in so far as it concerns itself with venereal
diseases, which are not hereditary, it is only of indirect interest to
eugenics. The great objection to such laws is that they are too easily
evaded by the persons whom they are intended to reach--a fact that has
been demonstrated conclusively wherever they have been put in force.
Furthermore, the nature of the examination demanded is usually wholly
inadequate to ascertain whether the applicant really is or is not
afflicted with a venereal disease.
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