Tag: Eugenics
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Why Halliday Sutherland Opposed Eugenics (Long Before His Conversion)
Dr Halliday Sutherland’s religious journey Dr Sutherland’s religious journey was outlined in Exterminating Poverty: Born in 1882, he had been “brought up a Scots Presbyterian” but was by 1904 “in theory an agnostic and in practice an atheist”. On the outbreak of World War I, he joined the Church of Scotland: “In August 1914 there…
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Why the Stopes v Sutherland Trial Still Matters Today
Introduction The Stopes v Sutherland libel trial (1923–24) was one of Britain’s most significant public debates about population control and eugenics. Yet today accounts of the trial are often simplified into a “Catholics against contraceptives” schema and Stopes’ eugenic agenda is downplayed (or even omitted!). This post explains what the trial was really about and…
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Marie Stopes: The Eugenics Agenda Ignored by the BBC
Introduction The BBC’s historical profile of Marie Stopes is one of the highest-ranking articles when people search for information about her life and work. Because the BBC is widely trusted, readers assume that its summary offers a complete and balanced picture. However, the BBC page, which was originally published years ago and is now “archived”,…
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Why Halliday Sutherland Opposed Eugenics (Long Before His Conversion)
Dr Halliday Sutherland is often described in modern summaries as opposing Marie Stopes because of her advocacy for contraceptives and his Catholic beliefs. This explanation is simple, convenient and historically incorrect. The documentary record shows that Sutherland’s opposition to Stopes arose from his opposition to eugenics, that his opposition to eugenics arose directly from his…
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Exterminating Poverty
The centenaries relating to Dr. Sutherland’s fight against eugenics and his legal battle against Marie Stopes are upon us. While the events are one-hundred years old, the ideologies and ideas behind them are not. Malthusians and eugenicists still stalk the earth, albeit with a contemporary image and wearing fashionable clothes. Please spread the true story…