Bodily autonomy sounds like it would be a basic human right, since everyone should have a right to their own body and what they want to do with it. Apparently that kind of thinking is too far-fetched since women especially still fight for their rights to their own bodies today. There have been many instances throughout history where the government has legally barred women from being in control of their own bodies. In 1927, the Supreme Court ruled in an 8-1 decision that it is constitutional to sterilize a woman for eugenic reasons. This illustrates the struggles between women and a male dominated government over what they can do with their body. With the rise of eugenics during the early 20th century, scientists studied the effects of eugenics among human beings, assuming that if it is possible with animals, it can also be possible with humans. This later led to the rise of the want for the “perfect…show more content… One can argue that the reasoning behind Buck’s sterilization is due to the lack of mental health care knowledge, which is true since a push to treat mental health problems has been a more recent movement. Obviously the government’s lack of understanding that women are also humans and deserve the same basic human rights as men plays a huge part in this court case. Women had just been given the right to vote 8 years prior to this court ruling, so it was relatively new for women to hold this power in the voting process for the officials who made these laws and chose the Supreme Court justices who ruled on this case. The fact that the Supreme Court ruled in an 8-1 decision and had no woman justice shows how men have put the power over women’s bodies in their hands instead of the women themselves. This has been a societal issue throughout the ages. Why do men decide the decisions that should be a left to a
