1896

Connecticut became the first state in the United States to prohibit persons with mental disorders from marrying.

1896–1933

Every state in the United States passed a law prohibiting marriage by persons with mental disorders.

1907

Indiana became the first state to pass a bill calling for people with mental disorders, as well as criminals and other “defectives,” to undergo sterilization.

1927

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that eugenic sterilization was constitutional.

1907–1945

Approximately 45,000 Americans were sterilized under eugenic sterilization laws; 21,000 of them were patients in state mental hospitals.

1929–1932

Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland passed eugenic sterilization laws.

1933

Germany passed a eugenic sterilization law, under which 375,000 people were sterilized by 1940.

1940

Nazi Germany began to use “proper gases” to kill people with mental disorders; 70,000 or more people were killed in less than 2 years.

Information from: Fischer, 2012; Whitaker, 2002.