The Galton Institute exists to promote the public understanding of human heredity and to facilitate informed debate about the ethical issues raised by advances in reproductive technology. It also publishes studies in the historical development of these topics. The Institute is a registered charity and does not seek to advocate particular applications of scientific understanding or reproductive technology, only to ensure that those taking decisions do so in the light of all relevant facts and after consideration of all relevant issues. A fuller statement of the Institute's objectives is available elsewhere on this site.
More than 60,000 Americans were sterilised, many against their will, as part of a eugenics movement that finished in 1979, aimed at keeping the poor and mentally ill from having children. Now, decades on, one state is considering compensation.