Buck v. Bell
United States Supreme Court
274 U.S. 200 (1927)
Relevant factsFree
A Virginia law allowed a mental hospital to sterilize a patient it determined would benefit, and society would benefit, from sterilization; Carrie Buck (plaintiff), a patient with a mental illness, was ordered sterilized by the hospital and state superintendent (defendant) after months of observation. Buck sued, arguing the sterilization violated her substantive due process rights and her equal protection rights, since the law applied only to institutionalized individuals.
IssueFree
Whether the right to reproduce is a fundamental liberty protected by substantive due process, such that a state law permitting involuntary sterilization of institutionalized mentally ill patients is unconstitutional.