COMPULSORY STERILIZATION IN SWEDEN

In the Fall of 1997 the leading Swedish newspaper, Dagens Nyheter, cre ated a media hype over the Swedish Policy of compulsory, sterilisation that had been in operation between 1935 and 1975. rn the discussion t hat followed the moral condemnation of our medical past was unanimous. However, the reasons for rejecting what had gone on were varied and m utually inconsistent. three strands of criticism were common: the argu ment from autonomy, the argument from caution, and the argument from b iological scepticism. In the paler it is argued that what point of dep arture you choose in your criticism of the Past should De of consequen ce also for your ideas about present and future medical practice. In P articular, if you rely on the argument from autonomy,you should be pre pared to accept a liberal (present and future) use of reproductive tec hniques.