In the Spring 2025 semester, the Disability Rights WG hosted a one month series exploring forced sterilization and its impact on marginalized communities. Check out the four presentations below.
Presentation #1
March 31, 2025
Adam Cohen: A Legal Framework of Eugenics History and Buck v. Bell
Our first speaker, Adam Cohen, introduced a legal framework of eugenics history and Buck v. Bell, 274 U.S. 200 (1927), contextually situating historical practices to modern-day forced sterilization. Moderated by UC Berkeley student Brittany Postle.
Adam Cohen is a former lawyer for the Southern Poverty Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union, and a former member of the New York Times’ editorial board. He is the author of five non-fiction books including Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck and, most recently, Supreme Inequality: The Supreme Court’s Fifty-Year Battle for a More Unjust America. His book Imbeciles was long listed for the National Book Award. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and was President of the Harvard Law Review.
Presentation #2
April 18, 2025
Stephen Rosenbaum: The Case of Ashley X: Disabled Body Integrity, Sexuality, Dignity and Family Caregiving, a Modern-Day Forced Sterilization
Our second speaker, Stephen Rosenbaum, introduced his bioethical study, The Case of Ashley X: Disabled Body Integrity, Sexuality, Dignity and Family Caregiving, a Modern-Day Forced Sterilization. Moderated by Brittany Postle.
Stephen Rosenbaum is the Frank C. Newman Lecturer, School of Law and Visiting Researcher Scholar, Disability Studies Cluster, Othering & Belonging Institute, UC Berkeley. He is also Lecturer-Part Time (2020-25), Disability Studies / Law, Societies and Justice, University of Washington. His son David Rafael (1986-2012) lived with significant intellectual and physical disabilities.
Presentation #3
April 24, 2025
Laura Appleman: Madrigal v. Quilligan, Medical Experimentation, and the Road to Modern Eugenics
Our third speaker, Professor Laura Appleman, will present on Madrigal v. Quilligan, Medical Experimentation, and the Road to Modern Eugenics. Moderated by UC Berkeley student Rachel Weissman.
Laura I Appleman is the Van Winkle Melton Professor of Law and University Research Integrity Officer atWillamette University School of Law. She teaches criminal law & procedure, family law, race & the law, and sentencing. Appleman is a national expert on carceral profits, criminal juries, and eugenics in the criminal system.Her scholarship has been widely published in books and law reviews such as Cambridge University Press,Harvard, Duke, Northwestern, Fordham, Boston College, Harvard Public Health, Wisconsin, and Washington &Lee. She has also written for or been featured in the New York Times, Al-Jazeera America, Slate, and Freakonomics Radio. A graduate of the Yale Law School, Appleman was a Manhattan criminal public defender prior to joining Willamette, arguing over 50 appeals in the New York courts. Appleman serves on the Public Defenders of Marion County executive board and the Yale Law Alumni Steering Committee, and was elected to the American Law Institute in 2024.
Presentation #4
April 28, 2025
Angéla Kóczé: V.C. v. SLOVAKIA, the Forced Sterilization of Romani Women, and her article “‘Ally’ or ‘Enemy’?”
Our fourth speaker, Angéla Kóczé, will present on V.C. v. SLOVAKIA, the Forced Sterilization of Romani Women, and her article “‘Ally’ or ‘Enemy’?” This webinar will be moderated by UC Berkeley student Lauren Dias and hosted by the Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law.
Angéla Kóczé is an Assistant Professor, Chair of Romani Studies and Academic Director of the Roma Graduate Preparation Program at Central European University in Budapest and Vienna. She has published several peer-reviewed articles and book chapters with various international presses, including Palgrave Macmillan, Ashgate, Routledge and CEU Press, as well as several thematic policy papers related to social inclusion, gender equality, social justice and civil society. In 2013, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC, honoured Kóczé with the Ion Ratiu Democracy Award for her interdisciplinary research approach, which combines community engagement and policymaking with in-depth participatory research on the situation of the Roma.