Abstract:
The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) of 2008 was the first federal law that afforded Americans protection from genetic discrimination in health care and employment. Every civilization has had some form of discrimination on the basis of an inherited physical characteristic of a particular group of people. The eugenics movement became an organized force for social change within the United States in the late 1800's, discriminating against supposed degenerates and feebleminded people. The first of many laws in the United States was passed in 1907, in the state of Indiana. In Indiana in particular, by 1974 all of these eugenics-related laws had been repealed. With the advent of GINA and recent advances in genetic research, eugenic arguments are once again surfacing in the United States. These advances have led to a plethora of complex bioethical issues. In the following thesis, I provide a historical perspective on the history of eugenics in America and Indiana in particular, the development of GINA, and the bioethical issues raised by new scientific advances and changing social mores.
